


The Drag

by ChickenXD



Series: Nonquestionable shuuya [3]
Category: Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: Car Accidents, Family Drama, Kidnapping, M/M, Murder Mystery, Road Trips, Sex in a Car
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2018-10-08 17:27:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 23,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10392069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChickenXD/pseuds/ChickenXD
Summary: Yuuya and Isa go on a road trip.





	1. Chapter 1

Night is falling. 

The sun is setting – the sky is turning orange, and the silhouettes of birds were filling up the sky, flying from one side to the other.

Isa rolled down the window, letting the warm wind into the car.

 

“Are you hungry?”

“I’m fine.”

“Well, you know what? I am,” Yuuya said, before letting out a yawn – “I can definitely use some coffee, too.”

Isa unbuckled his seatbelt and turned around to reach the backseat, where they’d placed two backpacks and a bunch of plastic bags. 

“No, it’s fine,” Yuuya said, “It’s getting late anyway.”

“You said you’re hungry, right? Want some snacks?”

“Eh… sure, I guess.”

Yuuya sighed as he looked ahead – they’ve been driving down this highway for, what, three, four hours now? It’s actually been a smooth ride, considering how well the roads are constructed – it’s just incredibly boring. All around them is grass, and occasionally a few cows and tumbleweeds, but nothing else. 

And yes, Isa is here, but within the first hour they’ve talked about everything they could talk about – what they’re going to do once they reach this place, a bit about their families (since both had things they’d rather not talk about), their friends, their coworkers – 

They spent the next two hours in silence. Yuuya would usually turn on the radio, but all the stations are playing country music, and he’s not really about that. Isa tried to surf the stations too, but turned it off after five minutes. 

Isa sat back down and put his seatbelt back on – not that anyone cares. He now has a bag of chocolate peanuts with him. 

“Ahh…”

Yuuya opened his mouth and leaned over, letting Isa pop one into his mouth. 

“I’ll see if we can find us somewhere to eat,” Isa said as he placed the bag in the middle and took out his phone. 

Well, at least eating the nuts will keep him busy enough from falling asleep, Yuuya thought. He glanced at the clock – it is nearing 8 PM. 

“There’s a Denny’s ten miles from here.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s the closest one. Let me look…”

 

There’s no twists or turns to the road – Yuuya just kept his foot on the pedal and his hands on the wheel. 

The view is so monotonous the road seemed almost unending, as if time has disappeared and he’s stuck driving forever. 

 

“I mean, how hungry are you?”

“Fine, Denny’s it is then.”

“I can drive after we eat,” Isa offered, “You’ve been driving the whole afternoon.”

“It’s fine, I want to get out of this alive.”

“I know my hand eye coordination isn’t the best, but there’s not exactly a lot to see here, right?”

Yuuya sighed, “Let’s see how I feel after we eat.”

 

The Denny’s, as expected, was pretty empty. There were no other cars outside, so who knows how the other customers got here. 

Yuuya and Isa sat down on a booth in the corner, and they looked at the menu. Only three other people were in the diner, and their server was looking pretty bored. 

“The double cheeseburger with fries, the banana pancake, and a coke please.”

“Jesus, you should’ve told me you were  _ that  _ hungry,” Isa said, a hint of awe in his voice. 

“I mean, not really, but we’ve got a long night ahead,” Yuuya said, “What are you getting?”

“And I’ll get the fish and chips,” Isa ordered, then turning to Yuuya – “You are sharing that pancake with me.”

“What, why?”

“I don’t want you to get fat.”

“Oh, come on,” Yuuya laughed, “I’ll hit the gym once we get there.”

“Will that be it…?”

“Yes, thank you,” Isa replied, so their server left. 

“Are we really driving all night?” Isa asked, “You think you can do that?”

“I mean, if I get really sleepy, we’ll just pull over and sleep,” Yuuya said, “The sooner we get there, the better.”

“...sure,” Isa agreed reluctantly, “Just don’t get us killed.”

Yuuya leaned over then, resting his head on Isa’s shoulder. Isa gently ruffled Yuuya’s hair as he nuzzled his nose near Isa’s neck. 

“I’m glad I’m doing this with you.”

Isa placed a kiss on Yuuya’s forehead and pet his back.

 

And just like that, a few minutes later, Isa could feel that Yuuya had fallen asleep on his shoulder. 

His breathing’s stabilized and become softer, his chest rising and falling slightly, and hi muscles grew relaxed. 

Isa carefully took off Yuuya’s glasses, placing them on the table, before gently cradling his head and placing it on his lap.

He continued to gently caress Yuuya’s hair – he seemed so peaceful when he slept, Isa wouldn’t dare wake him up. 

Isa decided to leave him be for now; maybe he’ll wake up in an hour or two. It had been a long day; Yuuya deserved to rest. 

  
  


“Oh, fuck–”

Yuuya groaned as he slowly blinked open his eyes and rolled, so that his head was facing Isa’s stomach. Isa paused eating for a while, turning to look at Yuuya. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah…”

“Want a fry?” 

“...sure.”

Isa picked up a few and fed them to Yuuya. Yuuya’s eyes were open, he just clearly didn’t want to get up yet. 

“What time is it?”

“Nine-thirty,” Isa replied, checking his phone’s clock – 

“Boy, I didn’t plan for this,” Yuuya groaned as he sat up – everything in his sight seemed blurry and full of white circles, so he just sat absent-mindedly for a minute while chewing the fries. 

“Your burger’s gone cold.”

“Hmm…”

“You can sleep more if you’re tired,” Isa said, placing his hands on Yuuya’s shoulder and massaging him, “Are you feeling better?”

“A little… ohhh, that feels good,” Yuuya moaned, almost a little too loud – well, not like anyone cares, right?

Yuuya turned to grab his burger, eating quickly while turning to take sips of his coke can every few bites. Isa was playing with his phone while his other hand takes the few fries he has left. 

“You want any more pancakes?” Yuuya asked, pointing at the plate of pancakes – Isa shook his head. 

“I already ate one.”

Yuuya finished the rest of his food in the next ten minutes, before he finally put his fork down and fell slumped on the seat. 

“Great, now I want to sleep again.”

“I can drive, you know,” Isa offered again, “You can just sleep at the back.”

“It’s fine,” Yuuya said with a smile, “Had my power nap, had a good meal – I’ll be fine.”

Isa shrugged, “If you say so.”

 

It’s dark outside now. The sky is completely dark blue, new moon – a few stars were scattered in the sky. 

Yuuya leaned on the car, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. Isa was standing on the other side of the car, staring up at the sky.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“I guess,” Yuuya said as he got in the car. There’s nothing that appealing to him about a bunch of stars light years away from earth, but if Isa likes it, sure. 

He let Isa stand outside in the parking lot for a while – he just stood there and stared at the sky for a while. Yuuya started up the car engine so he could open the window and continue smoking without letting the fumes in the car. 

Ten minutes later, Isa opened his door, and got into the car.

 

Isa went through the radio stations again once they got in the car, and just like this morning, nothing’s interesting has really come up–

“...who was last seen with two men – the police currently have no definitive profile on them yet.”

Isa turned off the radio after that.

Yuuya felt somewhat better – his head felt lighter, more relaxed, and his stomach full. He’d glance over at isa every once in a while – Isa seemed to be nodding off. Yuuya can’t blame him – he did stay awake to watch over him taking a nap. 

  
  


It was past twelve AM when Yuuya finally pulled over to the side of the road. Isa woke back up when he stopped and turned off the car. 

“Are we stopping here?”

“Just taking a break.”

Yuuya leaned over, kissing Isa’s lips as he placed his hand on Isa’s thigh. Isa seemed surprised at first, but then started to kiss him black sleepily. 

“Come on, let’s go to the back.”

“You wanna do it here?” 

“Nobody’s gonna see.”

“I… I suppose,” Isa replied, “Still–”

Before he had a chance to say anything else, Yuuya had opened his door and gotten out. Isa only sighed as he too, got out of the car, to the backseat. Yuuya was busy fishing for something in his backpack, while Isa started to move things down to the floor. 

“Alright,” Yuuya said as he finally found his bottle of lube, “Lay down.”

So Isa did, carefully stretching out his legs across the seats. He still seemed doubtful, while Yuuya was busy taking off his pants. He pushed them down to his knees before he got on top of Isa.

“You sure this’ll work?”

“I want to do it anyways.”

Isa only watched as Yuuya started taking off his pants – he took them off completely, and placed them at the front seat. 

“Let’s get you nice and hard,” Yuuya said, taking Isa’s dick in his hand – Isa let out a gasp as Yuuya ran his finger across the tip and started stroking along the length. 

“Ohh, I like it when you make noises like that.”

“Just get on with it,” Isa muttered; he was starting to feel hot, too. Yuuya continued stroking him for a minute before he bent over and licked the tip–

Isa let out a moan, surprised at the sudden warmth and wetness of Yuuya’s tongue. He turned to look at Yuuya then, face flustered. 

“St… stop teasing me like that!”

“I mean, you look cute like this.”

“Shut up,” Isa sighed – Yuuya decided that it’s enough, too, and carefully lifted Isa’s legs so they rested on his shoulders. There was barely any space and Isa’s legs almost hit the roof, but whatever works. 

Yuuya poured some lube on his fingers, then inserting two of them into Isa’s asshole. Isa let out a long moan as he felt Yuuya’s thick, long fingers enter him, and couldn’t help but squirm around it. 

“See, you keep playing cool, but you like this too, don’t you?”

Isa let out a moan in agreement as he pushed himself towards Yuuya, trying to get his fingers deeper in. Seeing this response, Yuuya pushed in a third finger, and Isa squirmed in delight. 

“You know, I always find it interesting how different you are during sex,” Yuuya remarked, “I’d like to see you like this more.”

“Ooh, shut up,” Isa replied, his voice slurred – “Are you going to fuck me or what?”

“Yeah, yeah, be patient.”

Deciding that that’s enough preparation, Yuuya pulled out his fingers and placed both his hands on Isa’s ass, kneading them to spread them slightly, then slammed into Isa. Isa let out a loud moan as his hands grabbed Yuuya by the arm, looking for support. Yuuya feels so big inside him, as if about to split him open – it was painful, but at the same time so pleasurable.

“You like that?” Yuuya asked, continuing to work his way in until finally his whole length was inside Isa – Isa was too busy squirming, trying to comfortably fit Yuuya’s dick inside him.

Yuuya went on to plow Isa’s ass, trying to find a good rhythm, while Isa pushed closer to him to try to get his dick deeper, his nails digging into Yuuya’s shoulder as he felt Yuuya’s dick brushing against his prostate–

Until it became too much and they finally came – Yuuya came first, his cum spilling inside Isa’s ass and Isa came a few seconds later, moaning Yuuya’s name as he slumped over, cum sputtering onto his shirt. 

“Man,” Yuuya muttered after he was able to catch his breath – the view in front of him was terrific though – Isa, worn out from sex, laying down on the car with cum all over his dick and shirt, his eyes half-lidded and face flushed with some tears welling up in his eyes–

“Was I too rough?” Yuuya asked as he leaned over to kiss Isa’s cheek, “Sorry.”

“It’s… it’s okay,” Isa replied, “That… that felt good.”

“I feel like we’ve both been pretty tense today, anyway.”

Isa nodded, too tired to say anything.

  
  


A few minutes later Yuuya was back at the driver’s seat, driving down the highway. 

Isa was still lying down at the back seat – he’s changed into a new shirt now, though his eyes were still looking at the road ahead.

“Should I drive slower for you to sleep?”

“It’s fine.”

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

When Isa woke up, he quickly noticed that the car had stopped. 

It’s 6 AM according to his phone – the sky was still mostly dark, but Isa could see some sunlight peeking out on the horizon.

He slowly sat up and turned to look at Yuuya. Seems like at some point in the night, he decided to pull over and sleep.

He took the blanket he was using, and laid it over Yuuya. He really doesn’t know how much longer the journey will take, although they should get there today – but if Yuuya’s going to drive all the way, the might as well make sure he’s well-rested before they set off. Isa leaned forward and placed a kiss on Yuuya’s forehead. 

He put on a pair of jeans then, and got out of the car. He left the door open, letting air in and also because he didn’t want to risk waking Yuuya up when he closed the door. 

This is quite peaceful – there’s nobody else around, just silence – listening to the sounds of nature, the gentle sound of grasses brushing against each other and birds chirping in the distance. Even the grass fields around them were mostly empty; no trees, no houses, anything.

So this is what isolation feels like, Isa thought. 

It’s exactly like what he imagined, and frankly, he’s enjoying it. Having Yuuya here is quite nice, too. 

 

“You’re awake?”

“Oh,” Isa turned around, surprised – “Yeah. Not too long ago.”

Yuuya put the blanket aside, then opened his door and got out to stand next to Isa. 

“Slept well?” Isa asked, ruffling Yuuya’s hair – “Sorry if I woke you up.”

“No, no, don’t worry about that,” Yuuya said, “I got up in time to watch the sunrise with you, see?”

“I guess.”

“This is really nice, too,” Yuuya said, wrapping his arm around Isa’s shoulder, hugging him tightly – “Don’t you enjoy this too, Isa? Just the two of us together, without a care of whatever happens in the world – I feel happy.”

Isa didn’t say anything – only snuggled closer to Yuuya, revelling in his warmth. 

“It’s peaceful,” Isa said, “It’d be nice if it can go on like this forever.”

 

The horizon is dyed a bright orange color as the sun slowly rises –

The dark blue sky slowly fades away, as if running away from the bright sun. 

Eventually the sun rose just enough that you can see it – a bright white circle in the sky, and the sky was bright once again.

 

“Yuuya?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you sure it’s okay like this?”

“...I mean, it’s kind of too late for second thoughts now, isn’t it?”

 

“Ohh, I can’t believe we’re almost there,” Yuuya sighed as he looked at the phone map – “Just three more hours, Isa. Are you excited?”

“Sure,” Isa replied, “You want something to eat?”

“Just get me a protein bar.”

Isa took out a pack of protein bar and a pack of cookies before putting the plastic bag at the backseat. Yuuya started the car, set the phone on the dashboard, and started driving.

Isa turned on the radio again, surfing through the channels – seems like they’ve travelled pretty far away that the stations are no longer all playing country songs, but now the wind up with fewer options – they could barely hear most of the stations because of the static, and the ones that they could hear were mostly full of advertisements.

_ “An alert has been issued for Ichijou Utsuro, who was last seen with two men. The police has identified one of them to be Ichijou Mino, his uncle–” _

“Isa,” Yuuya said suddenly, “Turn it off.”

“I want to hear it,” Isa replied, “It’s interesting that someone’s still looking for me, don’t you think?”

“Isa–”

_ “And the police has yet to establish a profile for the second man. Utsuro is a sixteen year-old boy with brown hair, purple eyes and red glasses, he’s four foot nine–” _

“Turn it off.”

“Okay,” Isa said, finally turning off the radio. He turned to look at Yuuya, who seemed a bit more tense now, and he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. He seemed so relaxed and happy earlier...

“...sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Yuuya said, sounding a little nervous, “Nobody will catch us while we’re on the road.”

“But at least they haven’t identified you,” Isa said, “People will suspect Mino for a while, you know, since I’m the only heir to my parent’s money, and they’d think he’s interested in that. It’s not difficult to make the story that he wants to kill me to–”

“Stop it.”

Isa couldn’t help but shrink back a little now that Yuuya’s hardened his tone. Yuuya only sighed loudly as he kept looking ahead at the road, silent. Isa would imagine that Yuuya’s quite nervous himself and would rather not think about this...

Maybe it is best to not bring it up again.

Isa opened his pack of cookies, and started eating as he looked out of the window. 

 

“Do you think I should dye my hair?”

Yuuya turned to glance at Isa, slightly interested. 

“What do you want to dye it to?”

“I don’t know, but we can bleach it for a start,” Isa said, “At least that much will change my description, right?” 

Yuuya reached a hand over, gently brushing Isa’s hair–

“Honestly, I think anything will look cute on you.”

“Maybe red, then, my favorite color.”


	3. Chapter 3

The room was dark, but bathed in warm orange light when Yuuya blinked his eyes open. 

It was warm and comfortable – finally, after not having a bed and sleeping for 5 hours max for days, he gets to sleep properly. 

It must be noon or something, Yuuya thought as he turned on his phone – but nope, it’s only 7 AM. Yuuya found this pretty strange, since he usually wakes up at 9 the earliest – all the driving must have altered his sleep schedule slightly. His back muscles were still feeling a little tight, and his eyelids were heavy, asking for more sleep. 

He tried to roll on the bed then, only to be reminded that he wasn’t alone – Isa was sleeping next to him, arms wrapped tightly around Yuuya’s waist. Yuuya realized he could feel the warmth of Isa’s body pressed against him under the blanket, could hear Isa’s breaths, so soft and so close–

Yuuya turned around carefully, trying to not wake Isa up, and as he finally settled in his new position, he threw his arms around Isa, hugging him back. He nuzzled his nose against Isa’s hair – Isa let out a murmur, but he doesn’t seem disturbed at all. Isa looks so peaceful when he sleeps...

It’s nice and warm like this. 

Yuuya wishes this can go on forever. 

  
  


“Yuuya?”

The next time he woke up, Isa was looking at him, impatient. 

“I’m hungry.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s almost 12 o’clock.”

“Ah, shit,” Yuuya groaned as he rolled over, finally letting Isa go – “You could’ve woken me up.”

“I don’t know,” Isa replied, “I like cuddling with you.”

“Is that so?

“I’m going to get changed,” Isa mumbled as he sat up, “You can sleep for five more minutes if you want.”

“You got any plans?”

Isa shook his head.

It was silent for a while – Yuuya was lying on his back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, while Isa was rummaging for something in his backpack. 

“I mean, we definitely need to get out of here.”

“Where to?”

Isa shrugged. 

Yuuya felt a knot in his stomach – is it because he’s hungry, or out of uneasiness, he doesn’t know. He’s so used to having everything planned out for him – where to go, what to do, what to accomplish –

But Isa’s different. Mostly because he’s in no rush to get anywhere or do anything. 

_ He must be planning something _ , Yuuya thought. Just to calm himself down a little. 

Not that he has the option to back out of this. Maybe that’s not quite right – Isa would let him go, but Yuuya wouldn’t know what to do. Might as well tag along for now. 

“Yuuya?”

Isa got back on the bed, now having changed into a black button down shirt and… a red plaid skirt. 

“What do you think?”

“You look cute,” Yuuya said, reaching his hand to caress Isa’s hair, “An elaborate disguise?”

“I mean, would I pass as a girl? I don’t have boobs.”

“A lot of girls don’t have much of a boob,” Yuuya replied, “And you look twelve, so yeah, I think you’ll pass. I now gotta watch out for pervy guys trying to fuck you, too.”

“Well, you’re my boyfriend, so you better.”

“I do want to fuck you right now.”

Isa sighed as he gave Yuuya’s shoulder a light shove, “We’re getting food first.”

  
  


“This morning the police found a body just off the I-10 outside El Paso–”

“Good morning, y'all!”

“Hi there,” Yuuya greeted the nice lady behind the counter – Isa didn’t say anything, giving her a slight nod as a greeting. 

There are only a few other customers in the restaurant – none of them seem to be care about Yuuya andIsa. There’s an old couple chatting by the window, a black-haired young man with four kids – they seem to be making the most noise – not much to see. 

“What can I get y’all today?”

“I’ll get a honey chicken biscuit and milk coffee,” Yuuya replied, turning to Isa then, who was watching the small TV on the corner –

“Isa?”

“Oh, sorry,” he replied, “I’ll get… uh… pancakes and strawberry lemonade.”

“Coming right up! Feel free to sit anywhere you want, yeah?”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

They both chose to sit at a booth, across from each other – Isa sitting on the side where he can watch the TV easily. 

“...and so currently the police have no idea where Utsuro is.”

Isa smiled as he turned to look at Yuuya – who seemed somewhat worried, for some reason. 

 

Isa knows Yuuya doesn’t want to think about it. 

Yuuya seems to want to treat this as a casual, romantic road trip, not a runaway. Isa wants to, too, but–

“...sorry.”

“Stop it,” Yuuya sighed, “You’re making me feel bad.”

“Are you mad?”

“Of course not,” Yuuya said, ruffling Isa’s hair, “I’m having the time of my life.”

Isa looked at him for a minute, before looking away with a sigh. 

“You are mad.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Yuuya replied quickly, “I just…”

“Isa,” Yuuya said, “I’m sorry.”

“But it’s not your fault. I dragged you into this.”

“I’ll do anything that makes you happy, Isa.”

“But what about you?”

“Here you go!”

A server came to their table, quickly serving them their food. Yuuya thanked him quickly before turning to Isa again –

Isa was quietly sipping some of the lemonade, before turning to his pancakes and starting to eat. 

 

Feels like there’s an important conversation they need to have, but none of them wants to have it. 

Yuuya certainly feels the urgent need to at least talk about it, but… not now. It’s a nice morning, and there are other people here – they don’t need to draw attention. 

Isa eats slowly, cutting his pancakes in quarters before eating them. He doesn’t even pour syrup over them.

“They’re really good,” Isa said, “You want some?”

Isa cut up a piece and fed it to Yuuya. 

“Let me try yours too.”

 

Everything has certainly been fun and all, and if Yuuya sees any problem with the way things are – it certainly will be that they’re both very good liars.

 

“Yours is really good too.”

Yuuya smiled, “I know, right?”

  
  


_ “Yuuya, are you… busy right now?” _

_ “Not really, why?” _

_ “Can you… pick me up, real quick?” _

_ “Sure. _

 

“What should we do today?”

“I don’t know,” Isa replied, walking out of the door – “There’s something important I need to tell you, though.”

Yuuya felt a lump at the back of his throat, and swallowed nervously.

They got back into their car, but Yuuya didn’t start it. Instead, he only took out his cigarette, leaving the door open as he lit it. Maybe whatever it is Isa has to say will be more pleasant to hear with a smoke. 

Isa was silent in his seat, looking out of the window.

 

The silence is almost suffocating, at least for Yuuya – the anticipation for what’s about to happen, how things are going to turn from here –

 

“...what did you want to say?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really,” Isa replied casually, “What do you want to do from here?”

“I mean, it’s… kind of up to you.”

“Some people are still out there looking for me.”

Yuuya felt his heart beating faster, but didn’t say anything. 

“So, you know, if…”

“No.”

Isa turned to look at him, surprised.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Yuuya–”

“No, look, you… you have to understand,” Yuuya said, “I’m not letting you go, okay?”

Yuuya leaned over, grabbing Isa’s hand. 

It’s definitely not the worst he’s expected, but still – how can Isa think like that?

“You didn’t commit to this.”

“Well, now I am,” Yuuya said – “You’re mine, Isa, and I’m not letting you go.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no idea where i'm going with this so *dabs* if u have any ideas and or suggestions pls comment


	4. Chapter 4

_ “Yuuya, where are you?” _

_ “Maman’s worried. You better come home soon she’s about to file a report.” _

 

_ “Don’t you care about us anymore? Maman called you today, pick up or something.” _

 

_ “The phone says the message is delivered, are you actually reading these?” _

_ “Hey, just in case you’re not actually Yuuya, at least tell us what happened to him?” _

  
  


Back on the road again.

Isa offered to drive again, but Yuuya didn’t let him. He knows Isa can drive pretty well and has a license, but… he just felt like he should drive.

It feels like falling back into a strange sense of familiarity, and at the same time claustrophobia. Yuuya felt like he’s driven more during this past week than his whole life, and the sight of the road was so boring and yet so disconcertingly familiar.

At least they’re still near the city, and actually near the border too. There are a lot more cars around them and a few trucks, so Yuuya actually has to stay alert. 

There’s a dark blue SUV behind them, as Yuuya observed from the rearview mirror. Why are they driving so close?

 

“We need gas.”

“Sure,” Isa said, “Maybe some snacks, too.”

Isa dug took out his wallet and handed Yuuya a couple 20 dollar bills. Yuuya took it casually – he’s long stopped questioning where Isa got all his cash from, and when Yuuya thought he’d have none left, somehow there’s always more. It’s kind of a miracle they haven’t gotten robbed yet.

 

Yuuya picked up the pipe and shoved it into his car’s gas tank, watching as the digital counter increased rapidly every second. 

He could see Isa inside the convenience store – when he was walking out Isa was buying a few bottles of water and coffee, but now he seems to have moved on to the snacks aisle –

A blue-haired man came from behind him, grabbing his shoulder, and Isa turned around, almost in shock. 

He can’t hear what they’re saying, obviously, but the man seemed pretty friendly, although he could tell Isa was still pretty cautious. Yuuya decided to shift his attention to the stranger – messy blue hair, and he seems to be significantly older than the two of them – 30 years old, maybe. He’s dressed pretty well, in a red polo shirt and jeans. 

Isa’s not wearing his “disguise” today, he’s just wearing one of Yuuya’s hoodies (Yuuya let him although it’s obviously too big, because he looks cute anyway) – so this man can’t be a pedophile or anything, right?

Yuuya heard the definitive click of the hose from the tank being full, and put the pipe back onto the rack. Seems like he’d still have some credit from earlier. 

 

The stranger was still talking to Isa when he walked back into the convenience store. Isa quickly turned around to look at Yuuya, but he seemed to be at ease. 

“Are you done?”

“Yeah.” Yuuya looked at the stranger, “Who’s this?”

“Oh! I’m Ryuuji,” he introduced himself, “Sorry, I wasn’t going to do anything, just wondering if he’s travelling alone.”

“I see.” Yuuya circled his arms around Isa’s shoulder – “Well, thank you for your concern, sir.”

Isa didn’t say anything, but he glanced at Ryuuji for a second, then back at Yuuya.

“Are you done shopping?”

Isa nodded as Yuuya guided him towards the cashier.

“You don’t need to get anything else, do you, Yuuya?”

“I don’t think so,” Yuuya said, quickly checking what’s in the basket, “Yeah, that’s good enough. I’ll just get a cigarette.”

 

Yuuya watched as Ryuuji walked out of the store, onto his car, a dark blue SUV, and a few minutes later he’s started it and drove away. Seems like he’s travelling alone, maybe just a random guy out buying groceries?

“What did you guys talk about?”

“Oh, nothing that interesting,” Isa replied, “He was just asking me if I was travelling alone, and where to. And I said I  was just coming home from school with you, my neighbor, and you walked in.”

“I hope he buys that.”

_ And if he doesn’t, that means he’s not just a concerned person.  _

“And you know, Isa, don’t talk to strangers.”

“It’s okay as long as you don’t disclose important information, right?”

“He could be like, I don’t know, a pedophile.”

Isa shrugged nonchalantly, “Met a few of those already. He’s not one.”

“Anyway,” Yuuya sighed, “You know what I mean.”

Isa nodded slowly. 

 

It’s such a strange feeling to see Isa converse with someone else. 

What’s this feeling? Jealousy? Paranoia?

It’s always been just the two of them for the past few days, Yuuya has to admit, but… 

No, he’s not just being unreasonably worried. Now that they’re on the run like this, he needs to be wary of everything going on around them. 

 

“There’s a traffic accident in the I10 East, towards San Antonio. The police are now coming to clear up the area–”

Isa switched the station, and the next one started playing a pop song. He turned to look at Yuuya, as if expecting an objection. 

“Feels like we’re back in civilization, huh?” 

Isa nodded with a smile. 

“So I’m going to meet a friend after we get there,” Yuuya said, “I arranged with him to get a new ride and a couple fakes. We’ll have to stay there for a couple days before it’s done, though.”

“I don’t mind.”

Yuuya smiled as he reached his hand over, messing Isa’s hair quickly. 

 

They stopped at a McDonald’s drive through for lunch, where Yuuya got forty chicken nuggets (he could feel Isa’s judgement) while Isa got a chicken sandwich and fries. 

“You’re not going to eat all of them at once, right?”

“No, of course not.”

Isa reached his hand to pinch Yuuya’s stomach – “Seems like you’ve gotten chub.”

“What, you don’t want a soft, squishy Yuuya to hug?”

“Of course I do,” Isa replied, kissing his cheek. 

 

Everything really does feel unreal. 

The sudden freedom they’ve got, escaping their detestable previous life–

It finally feels like they’re living a normal life. No family politics, no foul play.

Certainly nothing’s normal about the circumstances they’re escaping from, but that’s okay. 

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

Isa woke up feeling very… warm. 

He’s under the blankets, of course, but also found that over the course of the night, Yuuya had snuggled up close to him and hugged him very tight, very close that Isa could hear his breath. Yuuya’s bangs was falling on his face, covering his eyes as he slept. 

Isa raised his hand to gently brush aside Yuuya’s hair and tuck them behind his ear, so he can see Yuuya’s face clearly. Isa’s vision was a blur without his glasses, but he could see Yuuya sleeping soundly, his face peaceful and relaxed.

 

Their fate is uncertain, but it’s moments like this that really keeps Isa going.

No matter where he’ll go, no matter what happens, Yuuya will be there, and he takes great solace in it. 

Unlike the days in which he wakes up in the morning to the cold realization that his family didn’t want him, didn’t care about him. Uncertainty about what will befall him–

Yuuya feels like home, a safe place he can return to. 

Isa snuggled closer to Yuuya and pressed a kiss on his lips. 

 

He just lay there for a few more minutes, watching Yuuya, until he felt a low growl in his stomach. 

Oh man, what time is it? He remembered that last night they pretty much ate what was left of the chicken nuggets and some chocolate–

Either way, if he’s hungry, Yuuya must be hungry too. He’s such a big eater, after all…

Isa slowly moved Yuuya’s arm across him and sat up, trying to not wake Yuuya up – 

Yuuya suddenly rolled around, and blinked his eyes open towards Isa. Isa gently ruffled Yuuya’s hair and kissed his forehead again.

“Shhh, go to sleep,” Isa whispered, “I’m just going to get some food from the car, okay?”

Yuuya nodded sleepily, before turning around and falling back to sleep. 

Isa got out of bed, put on his jeans and took Yuuya’s hoodie that was lying on the table. He considered taking his phone and wallet, but oh well, it’s just a quick run to the car to get some coffee and cookies.

~•~

Yuuya woke up again, this time of his own accord.

He sighed as he sat up and looked at the clock – ten AM. He could faintly remember Isa getting up earlier… to get food. 

Now Isa’s sitting on the bed, eating cookies and watching TV. He turned to look at Yuuya, who was still stirring in bed. 

“Slept well?”

Yuuya replied with a yawn, then got up slightly to place his head on Isa’s lap. 

“You want a cookie?”

“Maybe later. What are you watching?”

“I don’t know,” Isa replied, gently petting Yuuya’s hair, “Seems like a documentary of sorts.” 

“What other channels are there?”

“I don’t know, this was the first one I landed on,” Isa said while getting the remote – he started moving the channels up one by one – the news, an ad, an infomercial, another news channel…

“I guess it is pretty early in the morning,” Isa said while continuing to surf. Eventually he stopped at a news channel that was reporting the weather. 

_ “The weather will be quite warm today, we’re looking at the mid eighties near El Paso, a beautiful sunny day–” _

“The weather guy’s cute.”

“Cuter than me?” 

“Oh, come on, you,” Isa said, kissing Yuuya’s forehead. 

“Anyway, didn’t you say we need to stay here a couple days?” Isa asked, “We should go out. Enjoy the city while we’re here.”

“That’d be nice, but are you sure? Didn’t you say there are still people after you?”

“I can dress as a girl again.”

“Sure, if you think that’ll work.”

“Do you think I should do my hair, Yuuya?”

Yuuya sighed as he reached his hand to play with Isa’s hair. 

“I mean, it’s not really my decision to make.”

“Do you think red will look good on me or will it stand out too much?”

“Anything looks good on you.”

“Such a sweet talker.”

Isa still leaned down to kiss Yuuya on the forehead, though.

“You got food, right?” Yuuya asked as he opened the blinds – “Did you remember to lock back the car?”

“I mean, I think so.”

Yuuya can see their car still parked at its rightful spot, so at least Isa did that right. There’s not a lot of people at this inn…

“So do you wanna go out or not?”

“I don’t know, do you?”

“Where do you wanna go?”

Isa shrugged, “Up to you, I guess.”

“You think I have a better idea for where to go?”

“I’m sure I can Google something.”

“I’m gonna hit the gym for a bit,” Yuuya said, “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

“Sure, I’ll just be chilling here.”

~•~

The gym was empty when Yuuya walked in, save for the lady who was using the treadmill – she seems to have been there for a while. The equipment in the gym were pretty basic – it is a small inn after all – but it should be good enough for him. 

The TV was mounted in the corner of the room, showing some news. It seems to be a different channel than the one Isa tuned into earlier –

 

_ “The police are still investigating the body found near El Paso that belongs to Mino Ichijou. His nephew Utsuro Ichijou is also currently missing–” _

 

Yuuya anxiously looked around, trying to find the remote, but he couldn’t see them. And he’s forgotten his headphones in the room too, just great. 

 

_ “Mino and Utsuro were last seen together four days ago. Currently the police seems to have Utsuro on top of the suspect list, although many fear he may already be dead, if the murderer was someone else.” _

_ “A new report has also emerged that someone else went missing just a day after they were seen–” _

Yuuya glanced over to the lady running next to him, who doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the TV – she’s gotten off the treadmill now and was on her phone while drinking some juice. 

Yuuya decided to ignore it himself. He could still hear the TV but tried his best to just ignore what the anchor was saying, instead busying himself with the options on the treadmill. Maybe he can up the speed a bit. Or maybe increase the incline. Oh no wait, that’s too much–

~•~

“Urghhh…”

Isa groaned as he turned off the TV. It’s pretty boring without Yuuya…

He’s been gone for almost an hour now. Maybe Isa should visit him over at the gym? Where is it anyway?

Nah, that’s too much work, Isa decided upon seeing that the gym is at the ground floor. 

He suddenly heard the door click, and rolled over in the bed to look–

“Tired already?” Isa asked teasingly, “I thought you’d be back in another–”

Isa stopped then, and slowly got up from his bed. 

Isa couldn’t really tell who it was, but he was damn sure it wasn’t Yuuya. He quickly reached for his phone.

“Sorry, I think you got the wrong room–”

“This is the cleaning service provided by the inn.”

“Are you sure,” Isa sighed, “Where’s your broom and mop, then?”

~•~

“Isa, you know where you wanna go?”

Yuuya walked into the room to find that it was empty. 

He looked around, trying to find Isa – but he’s not in the bathroom either. 

“Isa?”

He noticed that everything else was pretty much intact – their backpacks were on the floor, the bed was still a mess from last night–

Did he go somewhere without telling Yuuya? Maybe just like, a quick walk around the hotel?

Yeah, that must be it. Isa wouldn’t leave the hotel somewhere far without telling him, right?

Yuuya took out his phone to check for texts – there was none. Yuuya quietly wondered if he would be overreacting to call Isa over something like this – he’ll probably come back in like, ten minutes and grumble about how Yuuya’s being too worried. He just can’t help it, since they were alone now in a different state and on the run, too.

“Hey, Isa, where are you?”

There was no sound, no answer.

“Isa?” Yuuya asked as he sat down, “Can you hear me?”

Still no answer. Yuuya couldn’t help but start feeling a little nervous–

He can’t quite pick up anything from the sound – no crowds in the background, no sound of cars–

Yuuya slowly walked to the windows and looked down at the parking lot. His car is still where it was parked, and Isa’s not there either.

“Isa? Hello? Can you hear me?”

And then the connection was cut off. 

 

Something feels off. 

Yuuya grabbed both their backpacks as he called Isa again. It wasn’t answered this time, though. Yuuya called again, and again as he walked down the stairs to the parking lot–

He sighed as he threw the two backpacks into the backseat, and as he closed the door, noticed that the back tires were flat. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Yuuya sighed angrily as he got into the car and tried to start it–

–only to discover that the gas gauge was empty, and although the car would make its coughing sound to try to start, it couldn’t.

“Dammit!”

Yuuya hit the horn of the car angrily, causing a loud honk that invited the attention of some onlookers. Yuuya only sighed as he got back out of the car and took out his phone again.

“Leone?” Yuuya asked, “Hey man, I need some help. Can you come here real quick?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Ryuuji glanced quickly at his rearview window to check on his passenger–

Isa was awake, although he seemed to be calmer at this point. But of course – his wrists and ankles had been tied together, and his mouth sealed with duct tape. Isa was struggling to free himself from the ropes for a good 30 minutes or so, but then resigned to lay still quietly. 

“Sorry I had to do that, by the way,” Ryuuji said, for the third time now. He could still feel Isa glaring at him through the rearview mirror.

“I mean, I wouldn’t have done it if you decided to go with me without resistance.”

Isa made a muffled noise, which sounded angry to Ryuuji.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get where we need to be soon,” Ryuuji said, turning on the radio – “I wonder how your friend’s doing.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

We’re here.”

Ryuuji stopped the car on a clearing in the middle of the forest, and turned off the headlights. He instead turned on the ceiling light in the car, and looked at the rearview mirror to check on Isa. He’s still in the same position as before, although clearly he’s calmed down, and seemed to have his eyes closed.

Ryuuji got out and opened the back door, and immediately Isa tried to kick him away, although with his feet tied, it was pretty much ineffective.

“Sorry, sorry, please just bear with me, okay? I know it hurts,” Ryuuji said, and started peeling off the tape across his mouth, leaving his face red.

“I’m really sorry I had to–”

“Fuck off.”

“Again, I’m sorry,” Ryuuji said, stepping back slowly.

“Where are we?” Isa asked, looking around – it was dark around him; they seem to be off the highway and in the middle of some forest. If he wasn’t being tied, he would have tucked and rolled away.

Ryuuji didn’t answer, only looked at Isa. Isa stared back at him calmly, without saying anything.

Isa remembers him – they met yesterday at the gas station a few days back, when he was alone, and he remembered Yuuya basically telling him to leave.

So they must’ve been followed.

“What happened to Yuuya?”

“He’s fine.”

Ryuuji then carefully slid his hand under Isa’s neck and his waist, gently lifting him out of the car. Isa decided to stay as still as possible at this point, since it doesn’t really look like Ryuuji was going to do anything to him, and he definitely didn’t need a concussion from falling.

It’s a small cabin in the middle of the woods. The lights inside were on, and Isa thought he saw a shadow moving between the windows.

The door then creaked open, and a lady walked out to greet them.

“Oh hey! I didn’t think you’d be back so early,” she said, “Come on in. Oh no, why did you tie him like that?”

“How else will he come with me?”

“Yeah, honey, but you still shouldn’t have. It must’ve been uncomfortable for him in the car, no?”

Ryuuji laid Isa down carefully on the sofa, then carefully untying the ropes around his wrists first, then his ankles. Isa watched as the lady was watching them quietly. She seems to be calm, very kind and gentle…

Ryuuji tapped Isa’s hand slightly once he was done, and Isa quickly turned his attention back to him.

“See? You scared him.”

“Did I?” Ryuuji asked, “Well, I’m sorry if I did.”

Isa quickly got up, trying to make a run for the door, but Ryuuji quickly grabbed his arms and put him back on the couch.

Isa let out a little grunt while looking up at the lady, asking for some help, but she only smiled at him.

“So your name is Utsuro, right?”

“No.”

“Okay then, what’s your name?”

_They’re not concerned about who I am?_

Isa decided to not answer the question nevertheless.

“I’m really sorry if my husband scared you, okay?” she said, walking forward to grab his shoulder – ”But it’s alright. You’ll be safe here.”

“Who are you guys?”

“Oh, I’m Rei,” she said, “And this is my husband Ryuuji!

“Anyway, you don’t need to be scared around us. Come on, let’s all go eat dinner!”

She casually took Isa’s hand, leading him over to another room – Ryuuji was following just behind them, his eyes fixed on Isa.

He seems tense, or excited.

~•~

“So your car’s bust.”

“Seems like it,” Yuuya sighed, “This is all too elaborate, Leone. Someone planned this.”

“Isn’t that kid rich?” Leone asked, “I mean, no offense, but you should’ve seen it coming.”

“We did! We fucking did everything! Paid cash, changed our phones… like you giving us the fakes was like, the last step,” Yuuya complained, “Like it’s strange. You’d think they came for the money, but it’s untouched. Like only he’s gone.”

“You need to watch out. They’re starting to look for you too, you know.”

Yuuya sighed again, quieter this time.

“Are you going to look for him?”

“Of fucking course.”

“How?”

“Good question,” Yuuya sighed.

“How did you get into all this mess?”

“Well, he… he asked me,” Yuuya said, “He needed protection. He’s… god, I’m not sure what he did wrong that he had to run away like that. He said there are people going after him.”

“He killed his uncle, right?”

“I don’t know! I really don’t wanna think about it,” Yuuya groaned, “I really… I really wanna think he didn’t, you know?”

Leone nodded.

“If you wanna find him, you gotta start somewhere, though. You guys talked to anyone suspicious lately?”

“I can’t really think of–”

But then it suddenly crossed his mind–

“You know what, have you eaten today?” Leone asked – “I know you were busy trying to fix your car and dealing with the people at the inn. Let’s go eat something first–”

“Look,” Yuuya said, “There was this guy talking to him in the gas station, like, a few days ago, and like, I didn’t think much of it, but–”

“I mean, you can’t immediately suspect someone just because they talked to him.”

“He’s the only stranger who approached us this entire trip, Leone,” Yuuya said, “Like, if nobody else, it’s him.”

“Yuuya, you’re… you’re overthinking this, man,” Leone sighed, “Calm down. Want a smoke?”

“Then who else could it be? It’s not the police, it’s not anyone from his family – or else all the money would be gone, too.”

“Look, I’ll pay for dinner. There’s a Whataburger right there, what do you think?”

“Leone how are you so calm about this shit?”

“I mean,” Leone sighed, “Like, get yourself together first, man, and then we’ll figure something out. Just because someone talked to him that means that someone kidnapped him?”

“You don’t get it! He’s like, this older man, and for some reason he seems like, so completely familiar with Isa that I’m just, I…” Yuuya sighed–

All the thoughts were just rushing into his head, as his mind rewinds the events of the day – he went to the gym and Isa was watching TV, he came back and Isa was gone – so where could he be? Who did this?

Maybe Leone’s right. Maybe he’s just overthinking. It was just a simple interaction, maybe they talked for like, ten minutes, totally just a random person–

~•~

Everything felt very odd.

 _Maybe it’s just me_ , Isa thought – he felt like a stranger in this house, no matter how well both Ryuuji and Rei were treating him.

They seemed like such a normal couple that Isa can’t help but wonder if everything that preceded this – being taken from the hotel, tied, gagged – was real. Felt like some kind of dream and now he’s woken up in this couple’s house.

Ryuuji seems like a nice person. He smiles and jokes a lot, and his expression was… very calm, warm. The same goes for Rei, who seems a bit more… caring, although still controlling...

“You want more potatoes?”

Isa snapped out of his thoughts, turning to look at Ryuuji who was offering him a bowl of mashed potatoes.

“I… I’m fine.”

“Make yourself at home! Feel free to eat whatever you want, you know?” Ryuuji said, putting down the bowl ­– and now it’s Rei’s turn to offer him a plate of turkey, which Isa also refused.

Everything looks and feels like it should be comfortable, that it should be like home – yet Isa can’t push the thought from the back of his mind that something’s not right, something’s off.

It just felt so… strange, that Ryuuji would tie him up to bring him here, and now he’s acting like everything’s fine and normal, acting almost like he’s Isa’s dad.

“…I’m full already, thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“You must be tired,” Rei said, getnyl putting her hand on Isa’s shoulder, “Let’s get Ryuuji to show you your room so you can rest, okay?”

“No, hold up… I’ve got questions for you guys,” Isa said – Rei, who was in the middle of cleaning, quickly turned to look at him.

“What is it?”

“So who are you guys?” Isa asked, ‘You realize you’re essentially kidnapping me, right?”

Rei looked surprised for a second, quickly shaking her head.

“No, no, how could you think that?” she asked, “We’re just trying to help you, you see.”

“You’re not helping me.”

“What’s wrong? It’s safer here than out there,” she said patiently, “You can stay with us as long as you like! We’re not going to make you go home, we’re not going to turn you into the police–“

“You realize your friend can only help you so much, right?” Ryuuji cut in suddenly – “You guys can’t be on the run forever.”

“And then who are you guys, and why should I trust you?” Isa asked, “What makes you… better, than Yuuya?”

“You’ll be safe here, dear.”

“You literally tied and gagged me, put me in the back of the car, and expect me to think you guys aren’t going to kill me.”

Rei turned to Ryuuji with a sigh, but Ryuuji just shook his head.

“We promise you will be safe here.”

“Why would I trust you guys? You clearly followed us on the road, and that’s how you tracked us down and captured me. Tomorrow I’ll wake up and the police could be here.”

“We just want to keep you safe.”

“You don’t exactly have a lot of options here, do you?” Ryuuji asked, “Think about it. Roaming around the streets with your friend Yuuya like that, maybe a police will catch you running a red light, or speeding, pull you over, and you both are done for.”

“You’ll be safe here.”

Isa turned quickly to look at Rei, who was holding his hand.

“Please trust us.”

Isa turned to look at Ryuuji then, who was staring back at Isa–

Isa can’t quite tell the expression on his face – he seemed sad, regretful, but at the same time, tense…

It reminded him of Yuuya.


	7. Chapter 7

It’s a nice day outside. 

Isa got up from his bed and looked around the room. It’s a nice house, he has to admit, and they’ve given him a nice room –

But he still can’t get it out of his mind that something isn’t right, that he shouldn’t be here somehow. 

_ Isn’t everything here so nice and peaceful, though? _

He sighed as he got out from the bed and folded the blankets to what he remembered they were like before he slept. He’s still a guest – it’s the least he can do. 

He wonders how Yuuya’s doing, what happened to him, whether he’s looking for him. Isa would look for him too, if he had a way to get out of here. 

 

He walked out of the room, and the house seemed empty – wait a second, he could see Rei in the garden. 

On the dining table is a plate of pancakes with bacon and eggs. Isa sat down, grabbed the fork and started eating. 

He can hear birds chirping, can see the sunlight enter through the leaves of the trees. 

It’s an almost dreamlike picture. 

 

He finished two out of three pancakes and a bacon and already felt full, so he left the rest of the plate on the table. He doesn’t usually eat much – the trip with Yuuya made him eat a bit more, because they always snack on the way. 

He decided to go out and around the back. Might as well as Rei what to do with the leftovers.

 

“Oh, you’re awake!”

She looked up at him with a smile. 

“Slept well last night? Did you eat your breakfast?”

Isa nodded. 

“Give me a second, just…” She stabbed a shovel deep into the ground – “Trying to get these carrots out.”

“Do you need help?”

“I’m used to this,” she said as she continued to dig – “Although I suppose you can help with something easy. See the baskets over there?”

He turned to look at what she was pointing, and saw baskets filled  with some tomatoes and oranges. 

“If you can just carry them inside, that’d be great! Thank you!”

 

Isa took the fruits inside and placed them by the sink – Rei came in just a few minutes after him, holding the carrots she just picked. 

“I’m going to make some pot pie today, by the way, unless you want something else?”

“That’s fine. Do you need help?”

“I think I’ll be fine! I cook this a lot after all,” she said, putting down the carrots on the sink – “You didn’t finish your breakfast, were you full?”

Isa nodded.

“That’s fine. I’ll just pop it in the fridge for later.”

She started rinsing the carrots under the water, trying to wash off all the soil on it.

“You don’t have to follow me around all day, you know, you can go in your room or something.”

“It’s not like there’s anything else to do here, though.”

Rei chuckled a little, “You get pretty used to it.”

“Where’s your husband?”

“Working, of course,” she replied, “He’s a doctor.”

Isa nodded slowly. Ryuuji didn’t make the best first impression on him, having taken him away and all, but him being a doctor sounds quite plausible, actually. He seems to be pretty smart and careful.

“And what about you?” she asked – “Running around with your friend?”

Isa looked up at her, bemused.

“I mean, I don’t imagine you’d run away from a murder with someone you don’t trust,” she said, “Are you guys dating or something?”

“It’s nothing like that,” Isa said nervously – ”We’re just friends.”

Rei, as if sensing that she wouldn’t get that much out of him today, only smiled and nodded in agreement.

“How long have you guys known each other?”

“Probably a year or two.”

“Met at school?”

“No, at a party,” Isa replied, “We just got along well with each other.”

“That’s nice.”

Isa nodded, and fell silent after that. Rei put down all the washed carrots and looked at Isa, who was staring down at the sink. 

“Are you worried about him?”

Isa didn’t respond for a few seconds, but she could then see him nodding slightly. 

“I’m sure he’ll be okay, especially since you guys made it all the way here.”

Isa only nodded without saying anything else. She looked at him for a while, then smiled as she turned back to her carrots.

“It’s nice to have you here,” she said, “Ryuuji’s wanted this for a long time, you know.”

He turned to her, confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, you…” She seemed a bit surprised, but then sad. “I see… so you don’t remember.”

“About what?”

“You were really young back then, like, probably four,” she said, “When your parents died and you went in the hospital for months. He’s always said it might be a traumatic memory for you, so you might not remember much of it.”

Isa nodded slowly. 

Everything in that period of time felt blurry, with him going back and forth to the hospital and being unconscious in the hospital room most of the time.

“We tried to adopt you back then, because Ryuuji said he wanted to make sure you recover better,” she said, “But that’s before your uncle stepped in and said he’s going to take care of you.”

“...what?”

“Again, I’m not surprised you don’t remember,” she said, “I expected him to be happier about taking you home, though, he seemed pretty tense last night, wouldn’t you say?”


	8. Chapter 8

“Good evening, welcome to Whataburger.”

“Hello, can I have a Patty Melt, french fries, and…” Leone turned to Yuuya, “Dude, what did you say you want again?”

“I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger.”

“You guys have the honey butter chicken biscuit out?”

The cashier nodded. 

“I’ll get one of those.” He turned to Yuuya, “You gotta eat, man.”

“No, I’m good–”

“Bullshit. You haven’t eaten all day,” Leone said, “Take better care of yourself. Also the honey butter chicken here is the shit.”

“Anything to drink?”

“Sure, two small fountain drinks,” Leone said, “I’ll pay. Go sit somewhere.”

“You sure? I can–”

“No man, come on. I gotta help a friend in rough times.””

“Thanks, Leone,” Yuuya said with a smile. 

“Get me a Dr. Pepper while you’re at it, yeah?”

“Sure.”

Yuuya took the two glasses and walked to the vending machine – Dr. Pepper for Leone, and for him… maybe root beer is fine. 

He sat down on a chair by the window and looked around – it’s pretty late, but there are still quite a lot of people here, and they’re not all drunk either. He’d say that they’re probably students, or people who just have the munchies late at night. 

He quietly wonders if any of them were like him. Tired from a long journey, just needs to sustain themselves for another day, not knowing what for, whether it’ll be worth it–

 

“Oh man,” Leone said as he sat down, “You gotta quit moping around.”

“I’m not.”

“I can tell from your face, you think I’m dumb?” 

Yuuya only sighed as he sipped some of his drink. 

“You gonna cross?”

“No,” Yuuya said, “Why would I?”

“I mean, you’ve got everything done,” Leone said, “Take your fakes, get out of the country. Get out of this mess.”

“Well, I gotta take him, too. Who else will?”

“This is always the problem with us,” Leone sighed, “Can’t go to the police for help, can’t let anyone know who we are…

“But tell me, Yuuya, what did that kid do anyway?”

“Don’t know,” Yuuya sighed, “It’s the one thing we never talked about.”

“You agreed to help him run from the police without really knowing why?”

“I mean, I don’t imagine he wants to talk about it,” Yuuya said, “I just kind of went with the belief he didn’t do it.”

Leone scanned the restaurant quickly, making sure nobody was listening to them, before he leaned in closer to Yuuya.

“Man, you’re crazy,” Leone said, “There’s a line between helping a friend and blind faith, you know?”

“I won’t be mad if you call it blind faith,” Yuuya said, “Maybe that’s what it is.”

“Damn, Yuuya! Have a load of this guy!” Leone shook his head, “Don’t know if you’re in love or dumb as fuck.”

“Hey, one doesn’t happen independently of the other, right?”

“What if you don’t find him?”

Yuuya fell silent for a second, as if weighing his options – 

“Don’t know,” Yuuya shrugged, “This seems like a pretty okay place.”

 

Why not go home? His mum’s probably worried for him, he’s also pretty worried about Sakuya, and it’s not like there’s much else to do around here…

These past few days his life has revolved around Isa. And what was he doing before that?

~•~

“Wait, Yuuya!”

“What, you can’t catch up?”

Yuuya slowed down his running as he turned around to watch Utsuro frantically trying to catch up behind him. He just laughed as he eventually stopped running, letting Utsuro jog towards him. 

“You good?” Yuuya asked, “Tired?”

Utsuro finally stopped running, crouching down and holding his chest while trying to catch a breath. 

“Fuck,” Utsuro managed between his breaths, and Yuuya burst out laughing.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“It’s also kind of cold here,” Utsuro remarked as he looked around – the beach around them was empty, and the cold wind was blowing past them. 

“I can get my jacket from the car.”

Utsuro shook his head as he walked up to Yuuya and leaned on him.

“Aww,” Yuuya said, kissing his forehead – “Little Utsuro’s cold.”

“Shut up.”

 

The beach is quiet, except for the sound of the waves hitting the shore. 

The tide seems pretty low today, they can see the marks of the wet sand by the water At some point they both walked closer to it and sat down. 

“It’s nice out here, huh?” 

Utsuro nodded, “It’s pretty boring in the house.”

“Oh yeah? What do you usually do?”

“If I’m not studying, I’m… reading,” Utsuro sighed, “Playing the piano… nothing interesting, what about you?”

“Well, I met some friends earlier,” Yuuya said, “Went to the bookstore, bought some books…”

“Bullshit.”

Yuuya chuckled, “You know me so well now.”

Utsuro got up slightly from his position to kiss Yuuya’s cheek – Yuuya wrapped his arms round his shoulder, pulling Utsuro into a kiss. 

He’s so warm. In that few seconds, his mind was focused on Utsuro, how close and intimate they were. 

Nobody’s looking, it’s okay. 

 

“You hungry?”

Utsuro nodded slowly. 

“Wanna go get In and Out?”

“Let’s get something else,” Utsuro whispered, “There’s this new pizza place, we should go try it?”

“Ooh, fancy.”

Utsuro smiled as he swept Yuuya’s bangs to the side, then looked at him for a moment, as if admiring his face. Yuuya doesn’t remember anyone ever looking at him like that before. 

“You should come over tonight,” Utsuro said, “Mino just left for New York.”

“And your aunt?”

Utsuro rolled his eyes, “To hell with her.”

“So food, and to your house?”

“If you want to.”

 

“You wanna try mine?”

“Nah,” Utsuro said, shaking his head – “I know you got pineapple on yours.”

“What’s the big deal about that?”

“I just don’t like pineapple on pizza,” Utsuro said, “You monster.”

“Oh, god.”

Utsuro couldn’t help but laugh, and pinch Yuuya’s cheek playfully. Yuuya tried to lean in for a kiss, but Utsuro pushed him away. 

“No, you smell of onions.”

“Oh, come on now…”

Yuuya leaned in anyway to peck Utsuro’s cheek, and in return he reached over to pinch his cheeks, pulling them away from his face. 

“Doesn’t hurt, Utsuro~”

“You fucker…!”

~•~

Yuuya sat on the passenger seat this time. 

It’s a nice feeling to not be behind the wheel and not be so alert all the time, but it also just reminded him of how different things are – reminded him that Isa’s not here. 

“Want a smoke?”

“Sure,” Yuuya said, taking the cigarette Leone handed to him. 

“You have any places in mind as to where to look for that kid?”

rgsgrv“God, I wish that’s the case.”

“You think he’s still around here? Austin’s not far from here.”

“Yeah, that’s my main concern, actually.”

“Tell you what, we’ll go there tomorrow and ask around, what do you think?” Leone said, “I know it’s a long shot, but I hate seeing you mope around like now.”

“Sure,” Yuuya said, “It’s nice to visit another city, I guess…”

Yuuya lit his cigarette and looked out of the window, at the rearview – and noticed a black… or navy? car behind them. 

“Leone,” Yuuya said, “We’re being followed.”

“Yeah, I noticed that ten minutes ago,” Leone replied – “We’re close to the exit, let’s see if they fuck off.”

And so they kept driving – Yuuya could sense Leone going a little faster than before. 

“You think they’re looking for me?”

“It could be either of us, dude. Don’t be scared,” Leone said, “I’ve got a gun.”

“You  _ what _ ?”

“It’s Texas, boy, everyone has one,” Leone said, “I got it legally, don’t worry.”

“Define legal?”

“Actually registered it and went through the check.”

“Wow, I’m even more scared now if they let you have a gun.”

“Nonsense,” Leone said, slowly turning right towards the exit – Yuuya glanced at the mirror again, and noticed the car was still trailing them. 

“What will we do?”

“Let’s pull over,” Leone said as they drove to the side and slowed down. Yuuya nervously watched the car approach them –

And then, without any warning, swerved and hit them on the side. 

“You okay?”

Yuuya nodded – it was definitely a surprise as the car hit them on his side, but he wasn’t injured. 

“Stay here,” Leone said immediately, opening the door – “Keep your head down.”

Yuuya crouched forward, like Leone had asked him too, and looked at the car next to him – he tried to make out who’s inside, but the windows seem to be tinted. 

“Bitch, what’s your problem?” he heard Leone shout –

“Hey, sorry, man. We got nothing against you.”

So there must be two people inside, Yuuya thought. The driver of the other car’s just within arm’s reach –

“We’ll pay to fix up your car, man, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, you fucking better!”

“We need to talk to your friend though, would be best if you can convince him to come with us too.”

At this point Yuuya started to look inside the car, trying to find an escape point – he decided he’s first need to get to the other side, so he slowly crawled to the backseat. 

“What problem?”

“Don’t know if you’re aware, man, but people are looking for him. Said he’s running away with some rich kiddo.”

“Bullshit. You’re looking for someone else. He’s been here forever.”

As he was crawling, he noticed the gun Leone was talking about, hidden under the driver’s seat. 

“I see I see. Still covering for your friend, huh?”

Would it be wise to step out, maybe try to mediate the situation? It’d suck if Leone got dragged into all this mess –

Suddenly he heard a loud gunshot, and turned to see that someone had shot through his window – must be the driver, who’s thinking he was still sitting inside. 

His adrenaline just rushed through his body, his brain screaming at him to get out of there, escape – and he quickly opened the door, darting out of the car. 

“There he is!”

He ran as quickly as he could down the curb – and to his horror, could hear the car starting back up behind him. He felt as if he lost all the sensations in his body at that point, the adrenaline in his blood just making him run, run like hell, run for your life–

 

– he felt something heavy push him from the back, and suddenly his body stopped. 

_ “Motherfuckers!” _

He felt something, someone, touching him. 

_ “Yuuya, can you hear me? Shit dude, hang in there –” _

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back on This bullshit  
> don't count on regular updates lmao just writin this whenever i feel it

Yuuya opens his eyes slowly. 

His head is pounding, and he can feel a sharp pain from various spots all across his body, it feels like they’re blurring together. 

It feels cold. So cold. Where is this?

He slowly opens his eyes, but everything remains blurry. It’s just really grey all around, with a lot of small white dots swarming his vision.

“Yuuya?”

Oh that voice sounds familiar.

He turns his head in the direction of the voice, and he can feel something brushing against his chin, some sort of rough fabric. He also hears a crack somewhere as he twists his neck–

“Don’t move your head too much.”

“Sakuya,” he calls out weakly, “What’s up?”

He can’t really see Sakuya’s face yet, but he can tell the disappointment from the tone in his voice. 

“You got hit by a car, you remember that?”

“Not really.”

He tries to think back to it – he was with Leone, after a pretty long day of trying to… 

...his memory stops there. 

“So that happened,” Sakuya explained, “And now you’re here in the hospital.”

“Isa?”

“Isa?” Sakuya asks right back at him – “Who’s that?”

Oh, and now Yuuya can’t help but feel dumb, since he really can’t remember. He just instinctively blurted that name out for some reason. 

“Isa…”

Who could that be?

“Anyway,” he hears Sakuya say – “Maman’s talking to the doctor outside.”

“I see.”

He can faintly see Sakuya – he’s really blurry, but he can faintly make out his outline. 

He closes his eyes again, cause honestly, what is the point. Whatever drug they put in him is still pretty strong, it seems. 

Isa… he’s important, for some reason. Yuuya can remember that much.

Why?

“The cops are here too,” Sakuya went on, “They want to ask you about… you, of course, and also Utsuro.”

“Right…”

Utsuro, that sounds familiar. 

“Why did you run away, Yuuya?” Sakuya asks, “I know you don’t get along so well with dad, but you know mum and I care about you.”

“I know,” Yuuya mutters weakly, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“You mean?”

“I don’t know,” Yuuya sighs, “I can’t think right now, fuck.”

“It’s okay. Take your time.”

He feels Sakuya’s hand touching his shoulder.

He hears the door click, then, and opens his eyes again. 

“Oh, Yuuya!” he hears the familiar voice that is his mum – he hears her footsteps as she comes closer, and she hugs him tightly. 

“Hey, maman.”

“We’ve been looking for you!” she exclaims – “We’re… we were really worried, we’re so glad that at least you’re safe, I…”

He can hear her choking up, her voice breaking as she goes on–

God, he hates it. He hates seeing her cry, she doesn’t… deserve any of this, she doesn’t need to endure more than she already has, and to think that this time, it’s his fault–

“Maman,” he mutters, “I’m sorry.”

“No, my son, my precious boy, forgive me, for whatever it is I did wrong–”

“No, no, maman,” Yuuya said – “It’s all my fault, maman. Don’t cry.”

She still continues to sob on his shoulder, though. 

He can’t remember much right now, but he just… blames himself for causing so much harm, so much sadness. 

He slowly looks up to Sakuya, and then to the doctor, a blue haired man with red eyes in a white coat. 

...wait. 

“You…”

Yuuya can feel something ringing in his head, a realization, or recognition–

He’s met this man before, too, but cannot for the life of him remember where and when… and most importantly, who. 

But looking at him disgusts him, makes him react in… such a repulsive way. He doesn’t want to see him anymore, wants to get up from the bed and punch him – though he’s not sure why. This guy’s just a doctor anyway–

“Good morning,” the doctor greets, “How are you feeling, Mr. Sakazaki?”

  
  


“Welcome back.”

“Hey.”

Ryuuji sighs as he walks into the house. Rei’s sitting on the sofa, reading a book – she quickly gets up as Ryuuji walks in, though. 

“Long night?” she asks – “Have you had dinner?”

“No, came straight back from the hospital.”

“It’s unlike you to not stop by Wendy’s.”

“Yeah, I just wanted to come straight home.”

“So it takes having a new son for you to come home earlier?” Rei teases – “I’ll heat up something for you to eat.”

Ryuuji lets out a loud sigh as he sits down on the sofa. 

“How is he?”

“He’s fine,” Rei replied, “He helped me with the garden for a bit, then I let him read some of our books.”

Ryuuji turns to watch as Rei takes out a pot pie from the fridge, and heats it up in the microwave. 

“And he’s asleep now?”

“He said so, yeah,” Rei replied, “Want some hot chocolate?”

“For sure,” Ryuuji said as he gets up to sit at the dinner table–

“Honey, you won’t believe what happened today.”

“Tell me about it.”

“That boy, Yuuya,” Ryuuji said, “Got in a hit and run.”

The microwave beeps, so Rei takes out the heated pie and serves it to Ryuuji before sitting down next to him. 

“And I happened to be the only trauma doctor around, so I had to treat him.”

“Is he okay?”

“Broke an arm, a concussion, and he’s got some nasty bruises, but otherwise he’ll be fine. Probably won’t be able to walk right for a while, though.”

“Well,” Rei sighs, “At least it’s not your fault.”

“It’s still an awkward situation, you know?” Ryuuji sighs, “But yeah, you’re right.”

“So he’s in the hospital now?”

“Yeah. And his family’s coming tomorrow, the police called them.”

Rei stirs the hot milk as she pours in the chocolate milk. 

“So everything’s going according to plan, but you don’t seem too happy about it, honey.”

“You know, here’s what I’m thinking,” Ryuuji said, “He doesn’t really trust us yet, he’s still worried about Yuuya, you know?”

“Yeah, especially since you technically kidnapped him.”

“Sometimes I don’t understand, you know?” Ryuuji said – “How long did they really expect this to last? They’re both so inexperienced, they’re bound to get caught sooner or later.”

She nods, “Right.”

“It really bugs me, you know – we just want the best for him.”

She nods, “Yeah.”

“Anyway,” Ryuuji said – ”I’m going to talk to him when he wakes up.”

“I’m sure Yuuya would like to see him.”

“I know,” he sighs, “The best case scenario is that he doesn’t recognize me, of course, but otherwise I’m just going to–”

“Ryuuji.”

He stops, and turns to look at her. She’s smiling at him as she hands him the mug of hot chocolate.

“Anything you wanna talk about, dear?” she asks – “You seem really tense, despite all these favorable developments.”

  
  
  
  



	10. Chapter 10

“Good morning.”

Ryuuji looks up from the newspaper he’s reading as Isa walks out of the room.

“Hey!” he greets with a big, friendly smile, “Good morning!”

Isa looks around, trying to find Rei, but she’s nowhere to be seen. Just Ryuuji, who’s drinking his coffee and reading the news–

He was gone all day yesterday, though, but Isa did see him come home, did see his car pull into the driveway. He watched Ryuuji walk into the house, but heard nothing afterwards.

Breakfast has been prepared on the table, though – today it’s some eggs, beans, and toast.

“Where’s your wife?”

“Oh, she’s working,” Ryuuji replied, “She’s a professor, so she can spend some days home, but some days she has to teach.”

Ryuuji folds the newspaper hastily and suddenly gets up to the bookshelf.

Isa starts eating, but his eyes remain on Ryuuji as he looks for something–

He pulls out a book and puts it in front of Isa.  

“Look, she wrote this!”

Isa picks up the book – pretty thick, with a glossy cover. Rei’s name is printed on the cover  in big letters, bigger than the title itself – “Rewinding History”

It’s a book about ancient languages, it seems.

“She’s a linguistics professor, so she’s really into old languages and stuff like that, you know,” Ryuuji said with a proud smile, “It’s all really cool! I just like medicine more, you see.”

Isa nods as he lays the book back on the table.

“I guess you’ve been a doctor for a pretty long time, too,” Isa remarked – “You two are really experienced in your respective fields.”

“You think so?” Ryuuji asks sheepishly – “Thanks!”

“What about your son?”

“Hmm,” Ryuuji replied, “What about him?”

“I mean, I’m living in his room right now,” Isa said – “Are you sure he’s okay with it?”

“Oh, I mean, he doesn’t know you’re here,” Ryuuji said, “But he should be cool with it. My son’s a pretty chill guy.”

“Where is he now?”

“He goes to school in another state,” Ryuuji replied – “He’s been gone for, I don’t know, two years now? He just comes back during the holidays.”

“I see.”

“He’s going to be a teacher, like his mum,” Ryuuji went on – “I guess it fits him, you know? My son is a really gentle person.”

Isa just nods as he starts eating his toast.

Ryuuji unfolds his newspaper and continues reading. Isa can’t help but briefly glance at the front page–

The headline is about someone being investigated for treason by the FBI or something. Isa’s not too interested in that–

Next to it, in a smaller column, he sees a familiar face–

It’s Yuuya. He’s apparently been found.

He reads as much of it as he can from where he’s sitting – pretty difficult because Ryuuji’s hand is covering the part of the rightmost column –

Yuuya was in a hit and run, but he’s survived and has been taken to the hospital. The police are still investigating who did it, but so far he’s reunited with his family, and is expected to be discharged in a few weeks.

 

Isa feels his heart sink.

So he’s just… never going to see Yuuya ever again.

So this is how it ends.

...well, if anything else, Yuuya’s probably happy to have gotten rid of him. He was the one who forced Yuuya into running away with him, he’s caused him so much trouble, and now he’s hurt, all because of him too–

Wow, how horrible. It’s all his fault – Yuuya didn’t even do anything to deserve all of this.

Maybe this is how it should be, though. Yuuya should go home, happily live with his parents and just forget this road trip ever happened.

As for him…

He looks up at Ryuuji, who’s still reading the newspaper.

Is he just going to have to stay here forever – is there no way out? Is this the end of the road for him – can he really do nothing but sit and accept whatever is going to happen?

He wants to see Yuuya again, if anything else. He’s worried about Yuuya – it doesn’t really matter whether or not Yuuya worries about him, he doesn’t need to be – at least he wants to make sure Yuuya is okay and apologize for all the trouble he’s caused him – 

Is it too much to ask Ryuuji to see him? He doesn’t even know Ryuuji that well yet. Why was he kidnapped in the first place? Is Ryuuji planning to do anything?

“You’re not eating?”

“Oh…” Isa turns back to his plate, “Sorry.”

Ryuuji folds up the newspaper, then, placing the side of the newspaper with Yuuya’s article face down on the table – then picks it up with him as he gets up from the seat.

Isa watches as he goes into the bedroom, leaving Isa alone at the table.

...maybe he should ask. Take a chance.

  
  


Yuuya hasn’t seen the doctor again in a while.

He’s… not sure who he is yet. He might just be a completely innocent doctor that Yuuya’s never met before.

That still doesn’t explain the immediate hate he felt when he saw him, but where did it even come from?  

 

It’s been a strange few days.

His mum and Sakuya have been visiting, but not his stepfather, of course, because why would he care.

He hasn’t seen that doctor again, only some nurses who check up on him and make sure he’s got everything he needs – meds and all that. Sometimes he kind of wonders how much they affect him and how he’d do without them – then he thinks about all the pain he’d be feeling, and decided it’s not worth it after all.

The only remarkable visit has come from a detective.

Yuuya has to admit that he was pretty scared at first – just this big detective with bushy beard who looks like he can crush Yuuya’s skull with a single punch, calmly walking into the room and pulling a chair to sit next to Yuuya.

He knows making his mum cry is a crime in itself, but he’s lowkey pretty scared of this man, too.

“Good morning, Mr. Sakazaki,” the detective greets, “My name’s Saul. I’d shake your hand, but…”

“Yeah, well,” Yuuya smiles – “It’s all good.”

“I’m currently investigating the death of Mr. Mino Ichijou,” Saul said, “I was wondering if you can answer a few questions for me.”

“Who’s that?”

“He’s…” Saul scratches the back of his head, “He’s a really rich guy, and his body was found dead about a week ago.”

 

_Isa pressed the button that opens the trunk of the car, where there’s a big black trash bag, tied at the very end._

_Yuuya had planned to just sit inside the car and wait, because honestly, he didn’t know if he could stomach it himself. These past few days he’s been trying really, really hard to ignore the fact that there’s a dead body in the trunk of his car–_

_He watched from the side mirror as Isa tried to lift the bag out of the trunk, but he couldn’t, because he’s not strong enough._

_Yuuya just sat inside and closed his eyes, though._

_He’s been trying to forget about it anyway, and just focus on getting Isa to safety, but–_

_He can hear the noises of the plastic bag as Isa repeatedly tried to lift the bag, and the low thud as it dropped back into the car._

_He just… really wanted this to end so they can move on. Drive away._

_He got out of the car._

_Isa stood next to the body bag, that’s now half out of the trunk, since he managed to drag half the body out of the car._

_Yuuya sighed as he placed his hand under the bag –_

_Oh it feels so gross – he can smell the awful stench, surely that’s decomposition that’s starting to set in, and the flesh touching his skin is mushy and slightly wet–_

_He tossed it as far as he could._

_Just… get rid of this awful secret they have to keep._

_He didn’t even come into direct contact with the skin, and only held that bag for probably half a second, but it feels so gross he feels like he needs a shower. For some reason he felt like the stench of the body was left either on him or in the trunk of the car–_

_“Yuuya?”_

_He feels Isa holding his hand._

_“Yuuya,” he said, louder this time, “Sorry. You–”_

_“It’s okay.”_

_He squeezed Isa’s hand, and pressed a kiss on his lips._

_It’s so quiet and peaceful._

_There’s nobody else around them at this time of the night, on the grass fields off the highway._

_It’s moments like this that he can forget the world exists around them. It’s as if nothing else matters except for Isa–_

_And suddenly he’s reminded of why he did all this in the first place._

  


“Any of that sound familiar to you?”

Yuuya shakes his head.

“Yeah, thought it was a long shot,” Saul said, “You see, Utsuro, his nephew, went missing on the same day you did.”

Yuuya nods.

“We were thinking whoever killed Mino may have killed Utsuro too, but we haven’t found his body or anything,” Saul replied – “If he’s not dead, he’s probably being kidnapped somewhere, but nobody has asked for ransom or anything. It’s really strange.”

“Sounds pretty rough.”

“So, Yuuya, why did you run away from home?”

“Oh, dude, I don’t remember anymore,” Yuuya sighs, “There’s a lot of things to be unhappy about at home, you know?”

He turns to look at Saul, who seems to be listening to him attentively… and sympathetically, it seems.

“I’ve heard from your mother that you don’t get along well with your stepfather.”

“But really, aside from Sakuya and my mum, everyone just sucks,” Yuuya went on, “That guy’s got like, what, five ex-wives and ten other kids? All of them always after his money, and they’re mad at Sakuya because he’s, you know, the favorite child. I’m just sick of the drama.”

“And what were your plans after coming down here to Texas?”

“Oh, I don’t remember, dude,” he said, “Probably just find a nice girl and get out of the country.”

Yuuya falls silent for a while.

Yeah, this was all… supposed to be easy. Take Isa out of the country, somewhere where nobody knows them, where they can live comfortably with all that cash he’s got from… somewhere.

Now Isa’s missing, he’s got a broken arm, and… nothing’s right anymore.

“I guess I have to go home after this,” Yuuya muttered, “Don’t wanna make my mum sad again. She’s been through so much.”

 


	11. Chapter 11

“Done with all your appointments today, Ryuuji?”

“Yeah, gonna go pick up my wife now,” Ryuuji replied – he decides to stop by the reception desk to chat with the nurse. 

“Sure has been hectic in here, since you’ve got such a high profile patient,” she sighed, “I don’t know how many times I’ve had to tell reporters to leave this week.”

“I mean, isn’t it exciting?”

She sighs, “It just makes my job harder. Patients first, you know.”

“That’s Ms. Mami for you,” Ryuuji laughs – he then turns to the green-haired young man sitting next to her, who’s nervously watching them. He’s wearing the nurse outfit, but with a badge that says “trainee” on it. 

“New guy?”

“He’s a student,” Mami replied, “He’s a real delight to work with, though.”

“Nice to meet you!” Ryuuji offers his hand, and the trainee nervously nods and shakes his hand. 

“Hi, my name is Nageki.”

“You’ll learn a lot from Mami,” Ryuuji said, “I guess this is an internship of sorts, right, so you’ll be with us for a while?”

“Until the end of this semester, doctor.”

“Nice! Guess I’ll be seeing you around, then!”

 

He steps out of the hospital and into the parking lot. He parked his car pretty close to the main entrance, just by the virtue that he arrives here pretty early every morning so it’s always pretty empty. 

Today’s been a pretty busy day, though. There were a few patients that he had to check upon and make sure that they are recovering as they should, then he had to meet some doctors to talk about the patients he’s referring to them, and he got called into the ER a few times to help out more urgent patients. 

Well, it’s nearly 6 PM anyway. The school Rei teaches at is on the way home, so he just needs to stop by there and pick her up. 

Maybe they should go out for dinner tonight, and bring Utsuro along while they’re at it. He’s quite aware that he hasn’t started his relationship with him on the best foot – which wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t try to taze him – but he still has to make it up to Utsuro. He’s probably feeling a little lonely from being alone at home all day, too. 

Just as he inserts the key into the ignition, he feels something cold and hard brushing against the back of his head. 

“Start the car.”

Ryuuji carefully twists the key, and the machine roars to life, as it should. 

He looks up to the rearview mirror, and he sees a familiar face sitting in the backseat, holding the gun to his head. 

“Oh, Yuuya!” he greets with a smile, “Boy, how did you get in here?”

“Shut up and do as I say.”

“You sure are lucky you broke your non-dominant hand, huh?” Ryuuji replied – “Where did you get the gun from?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“You realize you can’t kill me anyway because I’m your only lead, right?”

Ryuuji smiles as he sees Yuuya’s face flinch in surprise. 

“The detective from a few days ago told me you feel really guilty and would like to go back,” Ryuuji went on as he took off his badge and put it in the cup holder, “What happened to all that?”

“Not until I’m through with you.”

“Good point,” Ryuuji said as he turns on the radio – “Will you lower your gun, please?”

Although he knows Yuuya won’t… or can’t shoot, it’s just unpleasant to have a gun on his head. 

Yuuya doesn’t say anything though, and doesn’t lower his gun either. Great. 

“Come on, Yuuya, I’ll take you where you need to go.”

“I don’t trust you like that.”

“Probably for good reason, huh,” Ryuuji sighs. 

  
  
  
  


When Ryuuji pulls up to Rei’s building, she’s already standing outside, chatting with a colleague, it seems. 

Ryuuji just sits there and watches. He knows Rei’s probably noticed that he’s there, but usually her discussions with her fellow colleagues can take quite some time, and it’s not like he can contribute to the conversation anyway. 

This time their conversation actually ended pretty quickly though, and soon she approaches the car. She opens the back door to put down her laptop bag–

She pauses for a second when she notices that someone’s lying on the backseat, apparently unconscious. 

She doesn’t say anything, though, and just quickly puts down her bag before moving to the passenger seat of the car. 

“See you tomorrow, Amanda!”

“Bye!”

She sits down next to Ryuuji and closes the door. 

“What the fuck,” she whispers, “Who’s that?”

“Yuuya,” Ryuuji replied as he starts to drive away, “Don’t worry, he’s fine.”

“What do you mean fine?”

“I just didn’t like that he was pointing a gun to my head,” Ryuuji said – “I managed to take it away from him, though. It’s in the drawer.”

Rei opens the glove compartment, and just as Ryuuji said, there’s a gun there.

“Anyway, I was thinking that we should go to dinner with Utsuro,” Ryuuji said, “What do you think?”

“Sounds good. I don’t feel like cooking anyway.”

“Great! Where should we go then?” 

“We should ask Utsuro what he likes.”

She turns around to look at Yuuya, who’s still unconscious. She sighs as she reaches her hand back to caress his hair. 

“Poor kid,” she mutters, “What did you do to him?”

“Just a light tap in the head.”

“Good lord,” she sighs, “What are we going to do with him now?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking of returning him to the hospital, but I realized can take care of him at home.” 

“And Utsuro?”

Ryuuji sighs, “Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m worried about. What do you think, Rei?”

  
  


It’s been a strange day with neither Rei nor Ryuuji at home.

There are some books that he can entertain himself with – he tried reading Rei’s book, but found it a little boring, so he tried reading the medical books on the shelf instead. 

Rei also made him some lunch – some pasta with meatballs. 

There’s nothing else for him to do after that, though. 

 

This isn’t such a bad place, Isa thinks to himself. 

Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to stay here. Ryuuji and Rei have been nice to him, too.

He just wanted to get away from everything. He took enough money to do that, took Yuuya along since he didn’t know anyone who could be as loyal as him–

Maybe it’s just a matter of time that they get caught. 

If anything else, he feels guilty that Yuuya’s gotten hurt. All he really wants is to apologize to Yuuya for causing all this trouble, but… he’s not even sure how he’s going to do that now. 

Is he going to see Yuuya again?

Yuuya probably hates him now. Why wouldn’t he, after everything Isa’s put him through?

The thought alone scares him. 

  
  
  


“Hey, dear.”

Isa slowly opens his eyes, and he sees Rei standing in front of him with a gentle smile on her face. She was shaking his shoulder to wake him up–

Ah, he must’ve fallen asleep. He slowly gets up and rubs his eyes. 

“You’re back.”

“So is Ryuuji,” she said – Isa turns around, and he sees Ryuuji walking out of his room, putting on a coat. 

“I guess it was pretty boring without us at home, huh?” Rei said, messing Isa’s hair – “We’re going out to dinner. Come on.”

“Dinner?”

“Yeah, you can choose what we want to eat!” Ryuuji said with a smile – “What do we have around here… Wendy’s, Denny’s, uh…”

“We should drive Isa around and let him decide, honey,” Rei said as she gets up, “Let me get you a coat.”

“She’s gonna try to convince you to go to this Japanese restaurant near her school,” Ryuuji said once she disappeared into Isa’s room, “But I tell you what, the shop next to it has the best queso in town.”

“Ryuuji, be a good sport, will you? Let the boy choose.”

“Just trying to help him decide, you know?”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

“And they have good pancakes,” Ryuuji said, “Just saying.”

Rei comes back with a red hoodie, and hands it to Isa. He quickly puts it on and follows them out of the house.

“We should probably spend some time out in town tonight, since you’ve never really been around,” Ryuuji said, “Sorry that we live kind of far.”

“You sure? You’ve got a pretty early shift tomorrow, right?”

“Come on, Rei, I’m not that weak.”

 

As strange as all of this is… ultimately, it’s all he’s ever wanted.

A normal family. Parents who love him. They argue over the little things, like what to get for dinner. 

They treat him well, and don’t expect him to do things he can’t accomplish. 

They’re not in it for the money. They don’t need a reason to love him, other than that he’s their son. 

...yeah, this is pretty nice, actually.

  
  
  



	12. Chapter 12

Where is this?

Yuuya slowly gets up and looks around. 

He doesn’t know this place – it looks like an office. He’s lying down on the floor in front of a wooden desk…

He slowly gets up – it’s pretty difficult when you’re lying on the floor and you literally can’t use one of your arms, after all. As soon as he sits up, though, he can feel his head throbbing in pain–

He grasps the chair nearby, but since it has wheels, it just slides right under his hand and rolls away – this knocks off his center of balance, and he falls back to the floor, making a dull thud. 

Now the entire left side of his body, which hit the floor, just hurts even more. He groans in pain–

He tries again, grasping the table this time. It doesn’t roll away this time, so he’s able to prop himself up and stand up. 

He hears someone knock on the door right then. 

_ “Doctor Kawara?” _

He watches as whoever’s outside continues knocking the door, even so much going as to turn the handle – but the door doesn’t budge.

_ “I guess she’s not here yet?” _

_ “Wait, shit dude, it says she’s doing office hours in the meeting room today. I just saw her email.” _

_ “Oh, fuck. Where is it?” _

He hears their footsteps slowly get softer and softer as they leave.

Only after he’s certain that they’re gone did he try to open the door himself – but it’s no use. He turns the handle and tries to swing the door open both ways – but still nothing. 

Maybe he should’ve yelled something at those people who were outside earlier. They could’ve at least called someone who has a key…

...well, he was too disoriented to think that far ahead. Hopefully whoever this Kawara is will come by soon and open the door for him.

How did he end up here anyway? And what’s this place?

The second answer is easier to answer. There are books on the shelves written by a certain “Rei Yukimura”, and also a lot of binders, all of them chock full with papers. 

There are a bunch of things hung up on the wall too. There’s a whiteboard with a few deadlines written on it – finish grades by Friday; meet Damien, Thursday 10th of September, 3 PM–

There are a few awards up there, too. A certificate for Yukimura Rei on graduating with a doctorate in Linguistics. Best research award. Best faculty member award. 

He turns to the desk, where there’s a stack of papers, a mason jar with some pens and pencils in them, a small desk calendar, and a framed photo.

Which one is Yukimura Rei?

...wait, that blue-haired guy looks familiar. That’s the doctor who was treating him…

  
  
  


“God, I’m not sure why I’m still doing this for you.”

Leone hands Yuuya a gym bag. Yuuya unzips the bag slightly–

Among the bundle of cash in the car, he can see a car key, a burner phone, and a gun… and a few packs of bullets thrown in there, too.

“Go do what you need to do,” Leone sighs, “The car’s at my place. Just get it whenever, no need to call me.”

“Thanks, Leone,” Yuuya said as he zips up the bag, “You can keep this for now, though.”

“I thought you’re running away.”

Yuuya slips the gun under his pillow before handing Leone the rest of the bag. Leone sighs as he picks up the bag–

“Sure, if that’s how you wanna do it,” he said, “This won’t be the last I see of you, right, buddy?”

  
  
  


“Yeah, I understand, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Rei unlocks the door and opens the door to see that someone’s seated at the table–

Yuuya quickly turns to look at her, and she just smiles and nods at him while pointing at her phone.

“Okay, Damien, that’s fine. Just email me your draft when you’re ready, but remember everything has to be done next month. Okay. See you next Thursday – have a good one, Damien.”

She finally hangs up and puts her phone back in her pocket, then puts all the books she’s been carrying on the desk and also a cup of coffee.

“Sorry, that was my grad student,” she said, “You must be hungry, right?”

Yuuya just nods as he observes her. She is the woman in the framed photo–

“Let me run to the cafe downstairs real quick.”

“I’m not hungry–”

She must not have heard him, though, since she’s already left the room. 

 

She returns a few minutes later, this time with two packs of sandwiches and another cup of coffee.

“Have you been awake for long?”

“Not really,” Yuuya replied, “Some people were looking for you earlier.”

“Oh, yeah, that happens,” she said, “I made my students meet me in the meeting room, so they don’t wake you up. Some of them probably got lost.”

He watches her as she locks the door once again. 

“You should eat!” she said with a smile, “How do you feel?”

“I’m fine.”

He picks up one of the sandwiches, unwraps it, and takes a bite. He immediately realizes how hungry he was–

He finishes the whole thing, and turns to look at Rei, who’s fishing for something in her purse. 

“Hopefully you’ll feel better soon,” Rei said, taking out a bottle of pills – “Here’s some painkillers.”

“I don’t need them.”

“I know they make you feel a little sleepy, but you should really take them.”

Yuuya picks up the photo, and shows it to Rei. 

“Who’s that man?”

“That’s my husband, Ryuuji.”

“He took me here, didn’t he?”

She nods, “He said you were trying to run away from the hospital–”

“I know what I did,” he said, “Where is he?”

“You’re not going anywhere, Yuuya, let’s get that out of the way.”

She leans forward with a smile. 

“So what has he done to you that he deserves to have a gun pointed to his head?”

“He…”

Yuuya pauses to think about this. Does he tell her that Ryuuji’s basically kidnapped someone? Does she know what her husband’s done? Also, she could still report him to the police, and in that case it wouldn’t be wise to tell her about Isa…

He falls silent, unsure of what to say. He wasn’t even sure it was Ryuuji he was going after, he was just following his instinct.

Rei just smiles, though, and nods. 

“So why have you been helping Utsuro escape?”

“Utsuro?”

Oh, yeah, he hasn’t heard that name in forever, he almost forgot that’s Isa’s real name.

Is it even okay to talk about this with her? He doesn’t know her that well, after all, and as far as he knows, her husband kidnapped Isa…

“I don’t know. He just asked for my help out of the blue,” Yuuya replied, “And I mean, I don’t get along with my family too well, so I just up and left.

“Probably shouldn’t have done that,” he sighs, “I feel really guilty that I’ve made my mum sad.”

“Clearly you two really care about each other,” she said, “He’s really worried about you. I don’t know if he knows about you getting in an accident and all that, though, but he was already worried even before all that happened.”

“Is he doing okay?”

She nods. 

“I guess he just needs time to get used to it.”

“Please,” Yuuya begs, leaning forward, “Can I see him?”

“Here’s the thing, Yuuya, I’m a mother too,” she said – “I’m not letting you guys get into any trouble. What are you guys going to do after this?”


	13. Chapter 13

“I’m back.”

Rei opens the door, and she sees Ryuuji standing in front of the fridge, looking for snacks, apparently, while Isa’s sitting on the sofa reading a book.

“Oh, hey, you’re back earlier than usual!” 

“Yeah, one of my meetings got cancelled,” she replied.

Isa’s eyes widens in surprise as he sees Yuuya walk in, and his entire body almost freezes. 

“Isa…”

Yuuya kind of realizes how awful he must look right now, with his right arm in a cast, and he’s wearing an old shirt and jeans Leone lent him. 

He doesn’t say anything in reply, just stares at him in sort of an frozen silence. 

Then his face twists, and Yuuya can see the tears welling up in his eyes. 

Yuuya immediately feels an urge to punch Ryuuji, and he can see that Ryuuji’s glaring at him, clearly upset that Isa is upset, but hell, so is Yuuya. Just what is it has Ryuuji done that Isa is so–

Before he could say anything or even so much make a move, though, he feels Isa running into him for a hug. He quickly hugs Isa back as tightly as he can…

Suddenly he can feel the emotions welling up inside him, too. 

These past few days he’s been… in and out of his consciousness, fleeting visits from his mum and Sakuya, the nurse pumping him full of painkillers and other meds, that detective Saul asking him a lot of detailed questions, and finally Leone’s visit…

He’s nearly forgotten about Isa. He’s why all of this even happened in the first place.

It all just comes rushing to him. 

Running away from something. Leone asking him why he’s even decided to help Isa. 

There’s a line between helping a friend and blind faith, you know?

He thinks back to his mother. How she cried when she saw him. 

There’s nobody else he cares about more in this world other than his mum, and it… hurt to see her cry. 

Still, being here with Isa right now, it’s all so… overwhelming. Of course he’s happy to see Isa, it’s just… 

“Sorry.”

Isa holds him tighter, and he can hear Isa’s sobs–

God, it hurts almost as much as hearing his mum cry. 

“Sorry,” Isa cried again, “I got you into all this mess. It’s… it’s all my fault that you’re hurt. I don’t know how I can fix it…”

“It’s okay, ” he said with a smile, “I’m here to pick you up. Let’s go home.”

Isa looks up at Yuuya, his face almost surprised. 

“Where to?”

“You know, to LA,” Yuuya replied, “Back to the way we were before.”

Isa stands there, just staring blankly at Yuuya, as if trying to process what he’s talking about…

Then he smiles. 

“Right,” he nods, gently wiping Yuuya’s tears with his finger – Yuuya didn’t even realize he was crying until now.  

“You should go, Yuuya. I’ll stay here.”

“What? No,” Yuuya said – “Of course you’re coming with me, Isa. You can’t stay here.”

“But I have nothing to go back to, you know?” Isa replied, “I mean, after all of this, I’m sure you miss your family, and they are more important than me…”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” 

He turns to Ryuuji as he holds Isa closer. If he still had his gun he would definitely be pointing it at Ryuuji as well.

No, there’s no way he’s letting Isa go again. At least not to  _ this  _ guy.

“What did you do to him, you asshole?”

“It has nothing to do with him,” Isa stops him, “They’ve been treating me well.”

“You’re going to stay here just because of that?” Yuuya said – “It doesn’t make sense. I thought you want to cross the border and–”

“If you don’t want to, it’s okay,” Isa said – “You can go home if you want to. I just don’t have anything to return to anymore.”

“But what about me?” Yuuya asks – “What am I supposed to do without you?” 

“Yuuya.”

He turns to Rei, who’s smiling gently at him. 

“You need to calm down, dear,” she said – “Sit down and have some tea with us.”

“But I–”

“Give Isa a couple days to think about this, too. This isn’t an easy decision.”

“But we have to keep moving quickly–” Yuuya turns to Isa, “Please, Isa, everything’s ready, we just have to go–”

“You are not going anywhere in that condition.”

Yuuya turns to Ryuuji, once again giving him a sharp glare. 

“You don’t have a say in this.”

“Yes I do. I’m your doctor,” Ryuuji replied – “You need more time to recover before you go. It’s too risky otherwise, and if anything happens to you on the way, you’re done for.”

That’s actually a really good reason, and Yuuya can’t think of anything to counter that. His arm is still broken, after all, and it’s true that he can just let Isa drive, but he’s still just going to set Isa back…

“We’re in no rush to go anywhere, Yuuya,” Isa chimes in, “Ryuuji’s right. I don’t want to force you to come along when you haven’t fully recovered either.”

“Isa, I…”

What about maman, Yuuya wonders – is she still in the hospital waiting for him? Have they figured out that he’s escaped the hospital? Is she worried about him – is she crying again? He’d hate to see it…

Why isn’t anything going the way he wants? 

“It’s going to be okay,” Isa whispers, hugging Yuuya tightly, “I’m just… really glad you’re here. We don’t have to go anywhere unless we feel like it; there’s no rush, okay?”

  
  



	14. Chapter 14

These past few days have been… strange, to say the least. 

He’s been trying his best to observe Ryuuji and Rei. Now that he’s living with them, they seem like... such a normal couple. That was not what he expected at all – maybe because Ryuuji had kidnapped Isa, Yuuya had kind of imagined him as kind of a creepy man who’s up to no good… 

Isa seems to be doing fine, though. 

If anything else, this looks like the normal family Isa’s always wanted, and Yuuya’s just… there, an unwanted guest. 

Makes him think of his own home. 

Ryuuji’s turned on the TV a few times, and he reads the newspaper, and Yuuya’s been trying his best to not look at it. They’re probably looking for him again, and he’s just… going to feel guilty. 

Sometimes he still thinks of his mother and Sakuya. Are they still here, waiting for him to come back?

He tries to tell himself that everything’s going to be okay, now that he’s found Isa.

Now he just needs to wait for his stupid arm to heal, and then he’s just going to take Isa out of here, and they can cross the border down to Mexico. He’s observed the road closely as Rei drove him here, so although this place is pretty deep in the suburbs, he has a rough idea of where they are. He’s jacked a car before, and seems like he’ll be able to find the tools to do it in this house too – their car is a pretty common one too, so they wouldn’t stand out so much. He just needs to find Leone again, grab their fakes, then they can cross the border–

...and then what?

No, Yuuya, stop thinking like that. You haven’t even carried out half of your plan yet – you can think about all that stuff later.

...but what about Sakuya? What about maman? What if Isa decides he doesn’t want to cross the border anymore? What’s Ryuuji and Rei going to do, are they going to prevent them from leaving?

Why did he even do this in the first place? They’ve never talked about what really happened, too – what is Isa hiding?

  
  


“How’s your arm?”

Ryuuji sits down next to Yuuya, holding an apple and a knife, and Yuuya inches away almost reflexively – though Ryuuji doesn’t seem to notice. 

Rei’s outside, weeding her plants while Isa helps her. Clearly she’s way more skilled at avoiding the plants’ roots while weeding. Yuuya would have gone to help, but Rei told him to just rest in the house, and maybe he can help them water the plants later.

“You feel comfortable here?”

Yuuya doesn’t answer, though. He has talked to Ryuuji as minimally as possible since the day he arrived – as much as Isa tells him how nice Ryuuji has been to him, he just can’t trust that man. 

Rei’s fine, though. He does have a better first impression of her, but she just feels more trustworthy. 

“You know,” Ryuuji sighs, “If Isa is my actual son and he brings you home, I would’ve kicked you out.”

Sounds about right.

“You might think I’m a weird guy, right, going around kidnapping random people,” Ryuuji said as he begins peeling, “But it’s not that, really. I have no bad intentions here.”

“So you’d let Isa go with me?”

Ryuuji sighs. 

“You know, he hasn’t really told me what happened, with his uncle being dead and all,” Ryuuji said, “Did he tell you?”

Yuuya shakes his head.

“But what I’m worried about is that you might be keeping him against his will,” Ryuuji said, “Maybe you’re the one doing the kidnapping here, Yuuya.”

“No I’m not.”

“That’s what I’ve come to conclude as well,” Ryuuji said, “He seems worried about you.”

“Can I ask you something?” Yuuya cuts in – “Why are you so concerned about him?”

“Oh, he’s like my own son,” Ryuuji replied with a smile. 

Yuuya watches as Ryuuji finishes taking the skin off the apple. They’re kind of a mess, small bits and pieces scattered on the table, but at least the apple is completely peeled. 

“You know, maybe I do have a little grudge against Mino.”

Yuuya turns to Ryuuji , who’s now cutting into the center of the apple. 

“Rei and I thought about taking Utsuro in, after the terrorist attack,” he went on, “I thought that I’d like to continue to monitor his health as he recovers, and maybe we can help deal with the trauma of losing both his parents, provide him a family. And then Mino came along and of course he won the adoption. Not too long after that Rei got an offer to move down here to teach, too, so it wasn’t like I could visit.”

They’re silent for a bit a Ryuuji continues cutting his apples into chunks.

“Okay, so what’s your deal?”

“Huh?”

“You know, you seem like a nice young man,” Ryuuji said, “Strong, pretty fit… how did you end up here?”

That’s… a difficult question. 

At this point, he doesn’t really know either. This was just all… supposed to be a simple trip, after all. 

“Your mum seems to care a lot for you,” Ryuuji said, “I don’t really keep up with the gossip nowadays, but I your family seems to have a lot of drama going on…”

“I don’t really have anyone back home waiting for me other than my mum.”

“So you think Utsuro’s worth not seeing her ever again?”

Yuuya gulps. 

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“You realize that once you cross the border, you just have to keep going, right? There’s no turning point from there on.”

Ryuuji notices Yuuya has fallen silent, staring down at the ground with a sad look on his face. 

Who knows. Maybe having Rei around reminds him of his family, too.

“I can drive you back to the hospital later today, and we can pretend this never–”

“No.”

He sullenly shakes his head. 

“What he said the other day is true. He doesn’t have anyone else to do this with other than me.”

“You can leave him here with us,” Ryuuji said, “He told you he wouldn’t mind, right? You can go back to your mum too, so it’s a win-win situation.”

“He asked me for help,” Yuuya insists – “It would be wrong for me to just leave him here.”

“I mean, plans change. Nothing in life is ever set in stone, you know?” Ryuuji sighs – “You want your son to go to med school, he doesn’t want to – what about something related to science, maybe? Nope, he wants to go into education. But whatever makes him happy, right?

“Don’t force yourself too, Yuuya,” Ryuuji said as he gets up from the chair – “Do what feels right to you.”

As he walks into his room, he turns to look at Yuuya again. He’s now just staring out of the window blankly, watching them gardening.

To think that after all he’s done so far, after all his efforts to track down Utsuro and try to protect him – he still doesn’t know whether or not Utsuro really did his uncle in, but it’s not like he really cares now. 

But really, this guy? Who doesn’t even seem sure if he’s doing the right thing, who just seems to be doing it because he has no other choice? 

This is just stupid. Yuuya can just leave, right now, go back to his mother and presumably be a little happier; he and Rei is going to take better care of Utsuro anyway, because what does Yuuya know about raising a child? It doesn’t have to be as complicated as Yuuya’s made it to be.

Ryuuji can’t say he’s not worried. 

 


	15. Chapter 15

“Does your arm still hurt?”

Yuuya shakes his head, “Not really.”

Isa gently holds Yuuya’s good hand under the blankets and snuggles closer to him. The bed is small, since it used to be for Ryuuji and Rei’s son, but they can both fit if they just cuddle like this. 

Isa rests his head next to Yuuya’s shoulder, watching as his chest slowly rises and falls, steadily breathing. 

It’s almost completely silent except for the dull footsteps coming from outside the room. It must be Rei, cleaning the house.

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh, stop it,” Yuuya said, cracking a smile – “I told you not to worry about it.”

“I don’t think you’ve been happy for the whole trip,” Isa whispers, “I miss the way we were, back in LA.”

“You think I was happier then?” 

“Sure looks like it.”

“Come on, Isa. It’s just…” Yuuya sighs, “I don’t like Ryuuji that much. I’m sure I don’t need to explain that. Once we get out of here and cross the border safely, things will be back the way they are.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Nobody knows who we are down there,” Yuuya went on, “We can do whatever we want! Start thinking of places to visit, Isa.”

Isa carefully gets up, and leans over to kiss Yuuya. He feels him place his hand on Isa’s back, gently caressing his back.

“You’re always so good to me, Yuuya,” he whispers, “Thank you.”

 

They still have some time. 

Maybe he can try to convince Yuuya that they can just stay here. Ryuuji and Rei have been nice to him, anyway. 

Or Yuuya can go home and just leave him here, it doesn’t matter. 

Just want Yuuya to be happy again. 

Maybe it’s because his arm hurts, but he’s been looking more tired and sad each day. 

It will be alright. They’ve made it this far, after all.

  
  
  


_ “Utsuro.” _

Oh, he hasn’t heard that name in such a long time.

He feels a hand touching his shoulder, and then shaking him slightly. 

“Utsuro,” the voice whispers again, slightly sounding more urgent this time – “Wake up, darling.”

He blinks open his eyes and turns around – he instinctively reaches for his glasses, and quickly putting it on. 

It’s Rei, standing next to the bed. Yuuya’s still soundly asleep, arms wrapped around Isa’s waist. 

“You two have to go,” she whispers, “Come on, right now. Wake Yuuya up, will you?”

“What?”

“Hurry,” she said as she turns to leave the room, “You two have to leave now.”

“Wait–”

She’s already left the room, though. 

Isa still has a lot of questions, but this doesn’t seem to be a good time for that. 

Why do they need to leave so suddenly, though? There wasn’t any indication of anything going on, after all, so why are they suddenly–

...maybe it’s best to do as Rei says for now. 

Isa slowly takes Yuuya’s hands off his waist, and shakes his shoulder. 

“Yuuya, wake up.”

“Hmm…”

Yuuya rolls over to the other side, and pulls up the blanket to his shoulder. 

Now that Isa thinks about it, he did take the painkillers before he went to bed. This is going to be difficult. 

“Come on, Yuuya?” he sighs, “Rei said we’re going somewhere.”

“This late at night…?”

“Hurry!” Rei calls from outside the room. “Utsuro, come out here, will you?”

“I’ll wait for you outside, okay, Yuuya?”

Isa hops off the bed and walks out to the living room–

Rei’s standing by the dining table, where there’s… a gun, a phone, and a bunch of clothes. 

“You can drive, right, Utsuro?”

“Yes…”

“Here.” She hands him a car key – “Take my car.”

“What’s going on?”

“You guys have to get out of here before Ryuuji gets home,” she replied, “It’s not safe for you guys here anymore.”

“But why–”

“I’m sorry, dear,” she replied, “There’s no time for me to explain. I’m sure Ryuuji would like to properly say goodbye to you, too…”

She pauses for a second to look at him. 

She seems sad and conflicted as well. This must be out of her control…

She sighs as she pulls him into a tight hug. 

What’s happening, and why is it… happening so fast? And just as Isa thought they can stay here for a little longer…

 

Isa gets into the driver’s seat, for the first time in this whole trip, now that he thinks about it. 

Yuuya sits down on the passenger seat, closes his door, and clumsily puts the seat belt on. He’s probably still pretty affected from the painkiller from earlier–

“Here.”

Isa turns to Rei, who’s standing just outside the car. She has a gun in her hand–

“I don’t need it…”

“This is Yuuya’s,” she said, “And you will need it.”

“But–”

“Go to this destination,” she said, showing Isa a GPS navigator, “From there on, abandon the car. I think Yuuya has a friend somewhere who’s going to help you two leave the country, yeah? Get in contact with him somehow.”

She hastily places both of them in Isa’s lap.

“We’ll meet again, Utsuro,” she said as she steps back, “Be safe, okay?”

“Thank you…”

She closes the driver door, and rushes back into the house.

 

As much as he wants to stay here, seems like there’s no other choice for him right now…

He sighs as he starts the car, and looks at the old GPS screen. Their destination is about 20 miles away, and it would take them about 30 minutes to get there…

“Where did you get the gun from?”

“Leone,” Yuuya replied, “I’ll try to hit him up when we get there. Where are we going?”

“I’m not sure,” Isa replies as he starts backing up the car – “You should sleep off your drugs for now, Yuuya.”

“You sure you’re good? You haven’t driven in a while.”

“As long as we don’t get on the highway, I think I’ll be fine.”

“Wake me up if you need anything.”

Isa nods as he starts driving down. 

He knows he should absolutely try to focus and get to their destination as soon as possible, seeing the urgency of this matter that Rei had to wake them up in the middle of the night…

Just what had happened? She didn’t seem like she was kicking them out, either, as if they just couldn’t stay anymore. She mentioned something about the place not being safe anymore... what does it mean?

“...they were nice, weren’t they?”

“Who?” Yuuya asks, “Ryuuji and Rei?”

“Yeah.”

Yuuya sighs, “Sure, I guess.”

  
  



	16. Chapter 16

“A home invasion was reported last night, in the residence of the Kawara family in Round Rock – both of them are currently being treated as they seem to have suffered pretty serious injuries. Dr. Ryuuji Kawara is a trauma doctor in the Austin Central hospital, while Rei Kawara is a professor at University of Texas–

“The police are currently investigating the motives behind the attack, as nothing of value seems to be taken from the house, other than the fact that one of their cars is missing.

_ “I can’t imagine someone having a reason to attack them… my parents both work in academia, I don’t really think they have enemies or anything like that, you know?” _

  
  


Isa gently ruffles Yuuya’s hair. Yuuya’s awake at this point – Isa honestly doubts if he slept at all after they got to Leone’s place – he just doesn’t feel like getting up yet, maybe. 

Just tense silence between them, although they’re so close right now, right next to each other. None of them really wants to talk about it, obviously.

But they have to, of course – at least they need to decide what they’re going to do next. Frankly, Isa has no idea, since he really didn’t think he was going to leave the Kawara’s for a good while…

He feels bad for Yuuya at this point. This journey clearly hasn’t been good for him – he did say last night it was all because of Ryuuji, and they both already left that house, but this situation can’t be that much better for him. 

Can he explain himself and get away with it? Or is it too late at this point? Isa can’t tell. Why is Yuuya even deciding to stick with him?

 

“What happened?”

“Huh?”

Yuuya is silent for a bit as he takes a deep breath, and turns around to look at Isa.

“What happened?” he asks again, a little louder this time. 

“I… don’t know, honestly,” Isa replied, “Rei just woke us up and told us to leave, so I drove to–”

“I know that.”

More silence. Yuuya stares at Isa for a while, then sighs as he looks up at the ceiling.

“I… fuck,” he said – “Like, man, what did you do that’s so bad that you can’t tell me?’

Isa doesn’t reply – instead he just sighs and wraps his arms around Yuuya’s body, holding him tightly. He feels Yuuya trying to push him away, but still doesn’t let go – Yuuya finally resigns, and just lay still, not hugging Isa back and staring at the ceiling. 

“...I didn’t do anything,” Isa whispers, “You can choose to believe that or not, I guess, but it wasn’t me who killed him.”

Yuuya falls silent for a while, and sighs again, eyes still fixed on the ceiling. It’s as if he’s pondering the truth of what Isa just told him – maybe he’s still processing what Isa told him, trying to decide whether or not he should believe it.

“I’m sorry, Yuuya,” Isa whispers, “I’ll fix this, I promise.”

Yuuya remains silent, though, still looking blankly at the ceiling. 

Isa can understand his doubt. Yuuya’s been trying to shoulder everything by himself, and look at how this is all affecting him – and what’s Isa going to do? He’s not as strong as Yuuya, not as brave, and Yuuya’s definitely worn out from everything–

He still has to do it, though. There’s no going back now, he can’t undo what already happened – he has to carry on with the plan, whether or not Yuuya believes him.

“...then who’s going after you?” Yuuya asks softly – “Or are they going after me? Am I the one putting you in danger?”

“Yuuya,” Isa whispers, “Just rest. It’s okay.”

  
  
  


“You know I’m not like your mother, Utsuro.”

Utsuro didn’t say anything as he kept his eyes fixed on the window. Boy, did he wish he’s literally anywhere else but in this car right now. 

“Don’t seem so angry, okay?” Mino pleaded – “It’s all for your own good in the future.”

Mino knew Utsuro didn’t like these board meetings at all. Yes, he’s the only heir to the Ichijou company, since Mino didn’t have kids and someone has to keep the company going – Utsuro just doesn’t feel any ownership in it at all. He didn’t start it anyway, and at least Mino and his mum did things for it, but not him, and he definitely didn’t want to start doing things for it now.

“Sure,” Utsuro sighed. 

If he had been born into literally any other family, this wouldn’t be happening to him. He’d probably have a more normal life of, what, chasing butterflies in the yard instead of studying, hanging out in the city with friends instead of attending meetings he didn’t understand. 

It’s not like his parents liked handling the company either, though his mum did most of the work his dad couldn’t understand – and it’s not like Mino enjoys it. Is he just going to enter this circle of unhappy rich people who runs the Ichijou Corporation?

 

_ “I think it would be best for Utsuro to step out for a bit, hm?” _

It’s nothing unusual. It happens every meeting anyway, when they discuss something so confidential only the board members are allowed in the room. 

He never questioned it – it’s not like he would understand if he was actually in the room, so why bother? 

  
  


What happened then?

What went wrong?

  
  


“Thank you so much for all you’ve done.”

Leon just sighs and stares at Isa, who’s offered a handshake. 

“Good to see you grow a pair,” he mutters, “Yuuya’s been doing all the hard-lifting for you, you know.”

“I know,” Isa replied, “I’m grateful for that.”

“Make sure he doesn’t get more banged up than he already is, you hear me?” Leone growls – “Or I will personally come to Mexico and bash your pretty face in.”

“I deserve it either way.”

Leone sighs again, and turns to watch Yuuya load their bags into the car.

“The fuck are you still here for?” He lightly slaps Isa’s back, “Go away. I better not see y’all in the news.”

Leone quickly wave goodbye to Yuuya as he turns to get back in his apartment. Yuuya waves back, and they both watch as Leone walk through the gates–

And just like that, he’s gone. He’s done all he can for them now. 

“Okay,” Isa sighs as he opens the the door to the driver’s seat, “Let’s get out of here.”

  
  
  



	17. Chapter 17

They’re both mostly quiet on the car ride. 

Yuuya set the radio to some top 40 music, and as much as Isa hates it, he just leaves it be. There’s not going to be anything better, anyway. 

Yuuya’s awake, but doesn’t say anything, doesn’t comment on Isa’s driving, even if at the beginning of the trip he insisted on not having Isa drive. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t really have a choice now, with his broken arm. Their fake passports are sitting on Yuuya’s lap, while their real IDs are just… somewhere else. 

Isaac Kano. Birthday, 17th February 1995. Comes from Dallas, Texas. He’s been mentally rehearsing this information every, who knows, fifteen minutes. It’s kinda unlikely the border patrol will ask him all of this, but just in case. 

“Are you scared?”

“No,” Isa lied, keeping his eyes on the road, “Or, I don’t know, I guess a little.”

“That’s fine,” Yuuya sighed as he leans back in his seat, “I’m scared as shit, to be honest.”

“Because I’m driving?”

“No, you’ve been doing great,” Yuuya replied – “I just… can’t believe it’s all going to end soon.”

“Isn’t that something to be excited about?”

“Maybe…” Yuuya turns to look at Isa with a smile, “Yeah, I guess.”

They’re silent for a bit more as Isa returns his full attention to driving – though there’s really not much to look at. There are still a few cars on the highway, but they’re all pretty spaced out from each other, and it’s not like Isa would let himself go beyond 70. The last thing they need right now is for some police officer to pull them over and arrest them. 

It’s going to be fine. In a couple hours it’ll all be over and they can both put this behind them. 

  
  


Rei smiles as Ryouta opens the door and walks in, a slight frown on his face. 

“What’s wrong, dear?”

He doesn’t reply as he pulls up a chair and sat down next to the bed. Rei just smiles and reaches over to pet Ryouta’s head.

“What did your dad say?”

“Nothing,” Ryouta sighs, “He keeps telling jokes and wouldn’t tell me what’s going on, but that’s just not right, cause the two of you aren’t the kind to piss off people.”

“Your dad is.”

Ryouta sighs, because that’s… not wrong.

“Can I do anything about this?”

“Not anymore,” she replied. 

Ryouta falls silent for a while, staring at the floor and pouting his lips slightly, thinking hard. Rei kind of feels bad for her son – he did suddenly drop everything at school to come see them after news of the home invasion broke out this morning, and he’s probably not getting the answers he needed right now.

“...you know, I’m not that dumb,” he mutters, “I can put two and two together.”

“Of course, dear.”

“So the Ichijou kid,” Ryouta sighed, “Like, he definitely killed his uncle, right? Why did you guys help him?”

“He didn’t, I’m sure,” Rei replied, “Otherwise the police would be onto it pretty quick, don’t you think?”

“It still doesn’t seem right to me.”

“We can’t do anything for them anymore, either way,” Rei went on, “You really shouldn’t worry too much about it, Ryouta.”

“But they came to our house to look for him, right?”

She nods. 

  
  


“Go a bit slower.”

“What?” Isa asks, “I’m right at 70, don’t worry.”

“We’re being followed.”

Maybe it’s because of what happened back then with Leone, but this time around Yuuya has been watching the side mirrors pretty closely.

Maybe he’s just being paranoid, maybe whoever is driving just happens to be going in the same direction to Mexico… it’s not that uncommon, people go there all the time, right?

“You think so?” Isa asks, now looking at the rearview mirror – “The black SUV?”

“Yeah, see if you can slow down a bit and if he passes you.”

“How long have you noticed this?”

“I don’t know,” Yuuya replied, “It’s been a few songs, though.”

“Shouldn’t I go faster and try to lose him?”

“No. Don’t speed.”

Isa nods as he slowly releases his foot from the pedal. He can feel his heart rate go up – this is a lot more terrifying after what happened last night – the speedometer slowly drops to 69 mph, 68…

Are these the same people who came to the Kawara’s home last night? 

The black car slightly speeds up and switches into the faster left lane. Isa glances over to see who the driver is, but the windows are tinted. 

“You’re doing great,” Yuuya said, “Don’t be nervous, Isa.”

Isa nods. The car speeds up and passes by. 

“Probably just a random dude, huh?” Yuuya smiles – “Sorry if I scared you.”

“I mean, it’s… probably okay,” Isa said, “Better safe than sorry.”

  
  


Nothing interesting happened after that, so Isa decided that the car following them must be just a random occurrence. 

The radio stations change as they continue driving, so Yuuya has to change the radio whenever it turns into some country music or infomercial channel. 

“Hungry?” Isa asks when they pass by a sign that says “Food: Next exit” with a list of restaurant logos. They’re about an hour away from the border patrol, so a little detour shouldn’t hurt. 

“Our last Taco Bell before we eat real good tacos?” 

“I don’t mind waiting, I’m not that hungry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Yuuya replied, “You probably need a little break, right? We don’t know how far we’re going once we cross the border after all.”

Now that Yuuya’s mentioned it, that’s kind of true. Isa just hasn’t had a lot of time to think that over. 

  
  


They go through the drive-thru, under Yuuya’s insistence. Isa decides not to question it – it kind of saves time anyway, since they don’t have to go in and interact with people, just has to scream their order into a microphone. 

“Hi, can I have a burrito supreme, and crunchwrap supreme please?”

_ “And what would you like for the drinks?” _

“Sprite and lemonade, please.”

_ “So we have a burrito supreme and crunchwrap supreme with sprite and lemonade. Please pull up to the window.” _

Except there are a few cars in front of them, so they have to wait in line. Probably won’t take too long though. 

“You wanna leave right away?” Isa asks, “Or do you think we should stop for a bit?”

“I don’t really mind either way,” Yuuya replied, “I’m more concerned about you, though, are you tired?”

“I’m fine.”

 

They sit there for a while, Isa looking out at the drive-thru window while Yuuya fiddles with the radio stations. 

“Right,” Isa sighs, “We probably need gas before we cross. We’ve only got three dots left.”

“Oh yeah, that’s kinda important.”

Finally it’s their turn. They pull up to the window as the employee hands them two bags of food – Isa hands her some cash, and they drive away. 

 

They then pull up to the gas station, and stops in front of an empty pump. 

“I’m gonna go pay,” Isa said, “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No, it’s fine, I’ll be quick.” Isa rummages through his jeans pocket, “You think twenty is enough for this car?”

“Should be,” Yuuya replied, “I’ll come with you, Isa.”

Maybe Yuuya’s nervous because they met Ryuuji in a gas station back then too? It’s really no big deal, though, and it’s not like nothing Isa can’t handle… Yuuya shouldn’t worry too much about these small things.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Isa said, pulling out a bunch of twenty dollar bills, “You want snacks or anything like that? Chips? Candy?”

“No,” Yuuya sighs, “I just–”

Suddenly they hear loud knocks – someone’s knocking on Yuuya’s window, and Yuuya nearly jumped out of his seat from surprise. It’s a man wearing black sunglasses–

“Hey, Yuuya!” he yells from outside, “We’ve got a bit of unfinished business, don’t we?”

“Who the fuck is this guy?”

“Fuck, fuck if I know,” Yuuya stammers, “Just… just drive. Let’s get out of here.”

“Come on out, man!”

Isa quickly inserts the key back in the ignition and starts the car again, trying to get away, but the stranger suddenly pulls out a hammer–

Yuuya hunches back slightly as the window next to him shatters, pieces of glass raining on him. 

“Come on,” he calls again, and now Isa can see a bunch of other people dressed like him exiting from the car behind them, “Let’s make this simple, man.”

“Fuck off!” Isa screams as he steps on the gas – the car moves to the right, the man stepping back to avoid getting hit–

Except suddenly another car comes in from the right, the car that must be exiting the station – fuck, should’ve watched out for that – slammed right into the side of the car, hitting right on their tires. 

Isa’s instinct was to run out and check on the other car’s driver, but not with the swarm of people suddenly approaching their car. Isa tries to turn the other way to exit – except there’s a bunch of people there too, so he might hit them, but fuck it, they’re coming for Yuuya anyway–

Suddenly the window in front of him shatters. The man from earlier is back with his hammer, but now his eyes are on Isa. 

“Come on, you know it’s coming,” he said, “You two need to come with me.”

“No, we don’t–”

He pulls out a gun suddenly, aiming it right at Isa. 

“I’m only telling you once,” he said, “You don’t really have a choice around here, buddy.”


End file.
